Mass Effect: Missing in Action 2
by Muse1505
Summary: Sequel to ME:MIA. 2 years after being spaced John Shepard wakes up in a Cerberus facility. Now he's putting together a new team to face a brand new threat, the Collectors. Old and new faces in a bigger squad, can Shepard really trust them all? OC/Tali
1. Prologue

_One month after the devastating Geth attack on the Citadel, the galactic community struggles to rebuild. _

_The Alliance fleet made a tremendous sacrifice to save the Citadel Council and earned humanity membership in their prestigious group. Now the Council is forced to respond to evidence that the Reapers – enormous machines that eradicate all organic civilisation every 50,000 years – have returned. To quell the rumours, the Council has sent Commander Shepard and the Normandy to wipe out the last pockets of Geth resistance. Officially, they blame the invasion on the geth and their leader, a rouge Spectre. Saren Arterius._

_But for those who know the truth, the search for answers is just the beginning. _

The Normandy was coming out of FTL over the Planet Alchera, reengaging its stealth drives as it entered orbit over the planet. Despite the ship being filled with a well-trained crew it felt empty. The over powering presences that had once filled its decks were gone; Feral, Wrex, Garrus and, despite her kindness, Tali. Liara had stayed on board and so had Kaidan but it still felt so empty to Shepard.

Currently the three were geared up in their armour but it was a precaution in case they ran into any Geth in this system. However after spending 4 days trawling up and down the system and absolutely nothing he highly doubted it would even be necessary. Kaidan was toying around in the Mako, trying desperately to put the machine back into the prime Garrus had given it.

Liara was sitting in her office past the med bay, it hadn't changed much but after a month she had managed to get some of the clutter out and some more equipment in. She'd even been able to convince Feral to teach her how to tune up computers before the Normandy had departed from the Citadel. Her way of making him say sorry for walking in on her and Shepard before Ilos.

Shepard was sitting in his quarters, resting in the sofa opposite his computer as he sat quietly. His computer was keyed in to show him any immediate updates from the helm. He really had nothing better to do at this point, a month ago he'd probably have been sitting in the cargo bay with Feral and Garrus playing cards. He would be with Liara as they were still going strong, their relationship had developed significantly after a month together but 4 days sitting in armour waiting for Geth to kill hadn't really created a loving atmosphere.

So there he sat, staring at the holographic screen waiting for anything to come up. 4 days and he hadn't seen anything on it. Until now, one of the long range scanners was detecting a ship the size of a cruiser. Finally something, anything! Grabbed his helmet as he jumped up to his feet, quickly stepping out of his quarters and heading over to the med bay to grab Liara. Any excuse to get them acting like the elite squad they were was a good excuse.

He'd barely gotten to the mess hall table before the entire Normandy shook, the artificial lighting dimming and an orange emergency lighting taking over. Alarms blaring out across the ship as his eyes darting to the screen at the end of the sleeper pods. He quickly ran over to it, jumping up the small stairs and down the walkway. The Normandy was under attack, kinetic barriers were done, weapons were offline and they had multiple hull breaches.

Shepard couldn't believe what was happening, a split second passed before he regained control of himself. Hitting the buttons on the screen as he did something he never thought he'd have to, he launched the distress beacon. A priority one signal calling any and all Alliance ships in the vicinity for help, though he knew that help wouldn't arrive in time to save the Normandy. The ship was going down and all he could do was get as many out alive as he could.

Pulling his helmet over his head and locking it in place, snapping the oxygen tubes in place in case another hull breach removed the atmosphere. As he did he quickly thought over what had happened, they had been attacked while the Normandy had its stealth drives engaged. He had no idea what had attacked them or why but he knew one thing, it wasn't the Geth.

He turned his head as he heard a voice call from behind him "Shepard!" Liara screamed, she had come running out of her office and she scrambled to put her helmet on as she watched Shepard lock his in place. "What are you doing we need to go!"

Shepard turned around and looked over his shoulder "I just launched a distress beacon, the Alliance will be on their way" the ship lurched to the side again, another direct hit from the unknown enemies weapon. A panel exploding into flames just behind Liara, grabbing a fire extinguisher as she regained her footing.

"Will they get here in time?" Liara asked, he could hear panic in her voice. It wasn't that surprising, of all the things she had seen in her time during combat. A ship exploding around her wasn't one of them.

Shepard sighed inside his helmet as he sprayed the pressurised carbon dioxide onto the fire. "To save the Normandy? I doubt it" he threw the spent canister away and letting it roll down the walkway "To save the escape pods? I damn well hope so. Liara I need you to get everyone to the escape shuttles"

Liara had grabbed an extinguisher as well and was spraying yet another fire that had erupted from another panel in the Normandy's walls. The ship was being torn apart around them as they spoke. "Shepard when I was running to you I heard news from the helm! Joker is refusing to abandon ship!" she shouted over the explosions and the alarm. "I'm not going to leave you here either" she turned around to face him, looking through his visor.

Shepard just grabbed his lover by the arms and looked straight into her eyes "Liara I need you to get the crew to the evac shuttles. I can take care of Joker." He could see her want to defy him "Please Liara, get as many people as you can to the shuttles" turning around to try and fix a leaking coolant tube that was spraying cooling gas into the deck.

"John…." Liara began before she just looked as Shepard looked over his shoulder.

"Liara. Go. Now." He said firmly, he just wanted her to get out as fast as she could. He needed her to be safe and he'd never forgive himself if she got hurt or killed because she'd stayed for him. He smiled weakly behind his visor as she nodded before running off down the hall. She disappeared from sight as he finally managed to get a grip on the tubing. Taking a deep breath as he turned and ran for the stairs, he had to get Joker as fast as he could.

As he ran through the mess hall he could hear the mayday resounding throughout the comm system, Joker was calling for help. Any help. Shepard knew that his flight lieutenant knew the distress beacon had been released but he also knew Joker. The pilot would try to save his 'baby' until his dying breath, but not today. Shepard wasn't going to let the stubborn idiot go down with the ship.

As he opened the door to the CIC he was shocked and amazed by the sight that lay ahead of him, the sensation of all the air suddenly being sucked away as he stepped out into a vacuum. The roof of the Normandy had been torn off entirely, chairs floating inside the broken husk of his ship. The only lights illuminating the once great vessel was the reflected light of the planet below. He moved as quickly as he could towards the cockpit, he could see a force field ahead and he made his way there as fast as the magnetic boots would let him.

Finally he reached the cockpit, running up to the pilot as he tried desperately to save the Normandy "Joker! Come on we have to go, now!" he shouted to the man as he grabbed the back of his chair, turning him around slightly so he'd look back at him.

Joker looked at him briefly, slight panic in his eyes as he shouted back "No! I can still save her! I can still save the Normandy!"

"Joker the Normandy is lost!" Shepard shouted back, he could see the ship that had attacked them in his periphery. It was only a matter of time before they fired again and put the limping ship to rest at long last "Going down with the ship won't change that" he softened his voice slightly "Joker please we have to go now"

Joker sighed, dipping his head before turning his chair and letting his arm go up around the commander's "Yeah you're right….help me up" he couldn't believe he was abandoning the best ship he'd ever flown. It was like giving up his legs for amputation.

Suddenly a large energy weapon started to rip through the Normandy behind them. Shepard threw caution to the wind and grabbed Joker as fast as he could, the pilot crying out in pain as he was heaved up onto his feet. "We're leaving now!" Shepard just shouted as he dragged Joker towards the nearest, and last, escape pod. Practically shoving him into the open hatch before a large explosion threw him back across the Normandy. The energy beam moving up the walkway and coming between him and the pod.

Joker had locked himself into the pod before watching Shepard get blown back across the ship. He just watched in quiet horror as the orange beam came between him and his commander. What he saw next shocked him out of silence, screaming out "Shepard!" before the hatch closed and the evac shuttle roared into life. "No!" He screamed again, pulling up a camera as he watched the Normandy get smaller and smaller until finally it detonated one last time. Whatever had been holding the ship together for so long had finally given out. The Normandy was gone and its captain had gone down with the ship.

- A few days later in the Migrant fleet. The Neema –

"I wonder why the Admiral wants to see us so urgently. It's not as if that last mission went as badly as Helios" Tali looked over at Feral, his armour was covering his entire body as per the Admiral's requests and he still had his old recon hood. Though now it was adorned with several more scratches.

Feral groaned "Don't remind me, losing marines is bad enough but losing a rookie like that…now I know how Shepard felt when he lost Jenkins" the two were working their way from Feral's small live ship docked into the side of the Neema. It was about the size of an old studio apartment back on earth but it was enough to keep him comfortable and let him out of his armour without contaminating the entire Flotilla. "I swear to god though if this is about me sneezing in one of the drop ships again….how many times can I say sorry for that?"

Tali giggled, pressing her back to one of the walls as a group of pilgrims-in-training filed down the hallway. "Oh please I can't imagine it's got anything to do with that…" she watched the group turn around a corner "Thank you for taking the blame on that one….we really didn't need anyone questioning how I'd gotten a cold"

She could see the corners of his recon hood turn upward slightly before he laughed as they headed back on their way "Yeah well….thank god you only get colds now" squeezing an arm around her side and pulling him to her as they walked "It used to be a lot worse"

Tali wrapped her arm back around Feral's waist as they stepped into the elevator that would take them to the bridge, they had time to cuddle "That's the benefits of having to share a live ship with you. Keelah I can't thank the admiral's enough for not fully trusting you." She purred playfully "_Keeping an eye on you~ _has easily been the most fun order I've been given since we got back"

They turned to face each other and coiled their arms around each other even tighter "Well what can I say Tali?" Feral purred back as their bodies pushed together "Being your dirty little secret has been the most fun I've ever had" leaning into each other as much as they could. Resting against each other despite the fact that only 20 minutes ago they'd been sleeping in the same bed on Feral's live ship.

Tali sighed happily as the rocked gently against each other "I still can't believe you're here, I can't believe you found a way to follow me back to the Flotilla"

Feral chuckled slightly "You make me sound like a wounded puppy…well…if I could be wounded for any period of time that is" rubbing his covered cheek against her helmet before the stepped apart again, Feral could feel the elevator slowing down and he could probably hear the crew on the bridge by now. His senses had gradually been getting better after several months of field work.

Tali sighed as they separated taking a half step away from each other "Keelah I'm so glad this will probably be over quickly…we need to get back to the live ship quickly and carry on with what we were doing" she purred out playfully before the elevator opened. It was slightly cruel, she knew that but then it was fun to wind Feral up.

The two stepped out, working their way through the bustling crew of the Neema as they acted as a member of the heavy fleet and also as its head. Nodding slightly as a couple of members including Kal'Reeger as he headed off with a data pad in his hands, probably another mission but then why would they be going to see the Admiral if Kal already had the mission.

Tali and Feral both shared a look as Kal quickly hurried off to the still open elevator. This couldn't be good news and now they were both a little worried. Best case scenario Feral was going to get a 'bollocking' as he put it, worst case their relationship had been discovered and that…really wouldn't sit well with Rael.

Admiral Han'Gerral vas Neema turned around from the holographic screen in front of him as the two approached him. Feral lazily stood at attention, something Han had taken a while to get used to, and Tali saluted her Admiral before he saluted back. "Thank you both for coming, we need to talk."

Tali was about to say something in their defence but Han just put his hand up to stop her "This isn't anything you need to defend yourselves over. I'm sorry you have to hear it this way but I just received the news from Councillor Anderson myself"

Feral tilted his head slightly "What news? What could possibly be this important?"

Han sighed and looked at the floor before looking at the two in front of him, they'd both become members of his crew and so far they had an exemplary history on his ship. "There's no easy way to say this so I'll just tell it like it is. 2 days ago the Normandy was carrying out a routine patrol, it was attacked and destroyed by an unknown enemy cruiser."

Tali and Feral's eyes went wide as they shouted simultaneously "What?" they'd both served aboard that ship and the idea of it being damaged let alone destroyed was almost impossible. They were about to keep asking questions but the Admiral cut them off again.

"Luckily most of the crew was able to evacuate before it finally went however the reason why it took so long to reach us was simply because it took 2 days to confirm that Commander Shepard has been killed in action" he finally ended, his voice sounded clinical and cold but it was the only way he could tell the news. He'd heard stories of Shepard's conquests and the death of such a ship captain was a loss any Quarian could relate to.

This time there was no shouting, Feral and Tali just stood there in silence. The Normandy was gone, the loss of a ship was tragic but it was only a ship in the end no matter how beautiful it was. But the loss of a friend was…too much for either of them. Losing Ashley had been hard on the both of them but Shepard was the fulcrum of their team, both of them owed the man their lives. Tali on the Citadel and Feral on Nepheron.

They stood in silence until finally Feral spoke "W-was…..do you know about any other casualties?" he briefly looked over at Tali, the woman was stunned into shock.

Han shook his head "I'm sorry I'm not aware of anyone else at this time. However I can tell you Jeff Moreau, Liara T'soni and Kaidan Alenko all escaped with their lives. Councillor Anderson wanted me to pass that along too."

Feral nodded slowly "That's…..good…..that's good to hear" he gulped and sighed "Will there be anything else Admiral?"

"No, not today. You two are in no position to go out with the marines. I'll give you both as much time as you need but…..and I'm sorry to say it like this but try to cope as fast as you can" he watched Feral nod before the man took Tali by the shoulder and started to lead her off the bridge. "I didn't know him but for what it's worth, I am sorry for your loss" he sighed as he watched the two best operatives on his ship slink off the bridge.

Feral was silent, he knew how to deal with death….he'd died enough to know how it felt but the loss of a friend was still relatively new to him, especially after his metamorphosis. Shepard was a good friend and a seemingly invincible leader and it was impossible to imagine he was gone. The two stood in the elevator and as it started moving down he looked over and gently squeezed Tali's shoulders.

He was instantly pulled into a tight embrace as Tali finally lost her inhibition, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed into his shoulder. He sighed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her as tightly as he could. Right now words were meaningless, all they could do was comfort each other.

The news spread around the galaxy within hours. The first human Spectre, the hero soldier who had saved both Elysium and the Citadel was dead. Some rejoiced at the news, most of them Batarians or bitter anti-humanists; however the majority of people mourned. He'd led by example and become a beacon of hope for changing times, unity between all races and now with him gone. The galaxy slowly but surely reverted back into chaos, it was argued that Shepard's death wasn't a factor but everyone wondered if things could've been different.

Within the months that followed Shepard's demise, his own team slowly unravelled. Kaidan Alenko retreated back into the Alliance, his expertise was valued but he became yet another grunt for the time being. Liara T'soni vanished, rumours said that she had been sighted on Omega but there was nothing concrete on her until she reappeared on Illium.

Garrus Vakarian had re-joined C-sec after leaving the Normandy but after weeks of trying to convince the council that Sovereign and the Reapers were more than a rumour but to no avail. His letter of resignation was discovered on his desk one morning and no one has seen the turian since. There are no clues to his current whereabouts but those who knew him have been heard praying for whatever sorry fools he was taking his frustrations out on.

Around 2 months after the destruction of the Normandy, the Idenna was attacked by Cerberus. Kahlee Sanders is yet fully clarified why the Flotilla was attacked by the terrorist organisation however despite claims that the super soldier known as Feral wasn't part of their decision. Communication between the Migrant Fleet and the Alliance broke down in the following month eventually leading to the decision to break ties as the Quarians began to look for new means of getting a new home world or regaining the one they lost centuries ago. Tali'Zorah remains a crew member of the Neema however Feral's whereabouts are being protected by Councillor Anderson.

2 years passed and the names that had won a major victory over the Geth slowly retreated away from public knowledge. However as the universe went back to the ways they knew best, Cerberus planned and moved to push their advantage. The knowledge of the Reapers and their threat to humanity had never been lost to the organisation. The most expensive experiment in the history of the organisation after Subject Zero and the super soldier program. The Lazarus Project.

In a remote space station a figure that should have been long dead slowly began to open his eyes, the distinctive sound of explosions in the background. The view of space and the exploding Normandy replaced by sterile white tiles, a feeling of déjà vu came across him, he was sure he'd seen them recently. Gritting his face as pain flooded into every inch of his body, panting as he slowly reached for his head before a voice called out.

"Shepard do you hear me? Get out of that bed now! This facility is under attack"

**Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the prologue for the sequel to Mass Effect: Missing in Action. I have had some messages asking me whether or not Feral's time on the migrant fleet will be part of the story and honestly i'm not sure at this stage. I don't know if i can come up with a good enough storyline to make it a stand alone story or whether it'll be revealed in flashbacks over the course of this story. It really depends how much i can come up with and if i'm happy with it but it will be touched open during the events of this story. **

**This is only the prologue chapter and i will be updating as fast as i can, whenever i can. I hope you keep on enjoying and don't be afraid to let me know what you think.**


	2. The Colony and the Quarian

Shepard's mind was racing, he'd woken up on a table with explosions resounding all around him. An unknown voice was shouting at him to run and fight his way to her, the voice later turned out to be Miranda Lawson. On his fight through the station he'd run into her XO Jacob Taylor, he seemed like a good man but it really was too early to make a good judgment on either of them. Especially after the revelation they both worked for the terrorist group Cerberus.

Cerberus, a name that had become infamous to him over his time on the Normandy. First with the discovery of their experiments on husks and Rachni, then the death of Admiral Kahoku. But then there was Feral, the super soldier who had lived through hell to become what he was. The stories he'd told of his imprisonment at the hand of the group were still fresh in his mind. That was why he was keeping quiet in the shuttle as it flew them to the Minuteman Station, staring out of the window into space as he tried to ignore the two.

After fighting through the Lazarus station with Jacob he had the feeling the man could be trusted, he had come clean about his identity, but Shepard felt he was slightly misguided. Miranda however, he felt like he couldn't trust her. She was ruthless, driven and dangerous. She'd killed Wilson without a seconds thought, he may have deserved it considering his actions had killed a lot of people but Shepard fully believed that death was a last resort. No, right now Miranda couldn't be trusted.

That made it slightly ironic that it was her voice that pulled him out of his trance "Commander, before you meet with the Illusive Man. We need to ask you a few questions to evaluate your condition" her voice was clinical and straight to the point.

Shepard sighed and rolled his eyes and before he could even answer Jacob talked for him, pretty much summing up exactly how he felt. "Oh come on Miranda, Shepard took down those mechs like they were nothing. That's more than a good enough to pass your test" Shepard inwardly smiled at that, points to Jacob for not wanting to put up with Miranda's crap.

However the woman just carried on "It's been two years since the Normandy attack Jacob! The Illusive Man needs to know Shepard's personality and memories are intact, not just his ability to kill things" she huffed out.

Shepard's eyes bolted open at her first sentence "Wait…did you just say 2 years?" he shook his head slightly "No I…..can't….there's no way I've been gone for two years…" to him it had felt like moments. Being spaced with the Normandy exploding around him and then he woke up, he just figured he'd been knocked unconscious by his suit depressurising only to be rescued a few days later. Jacob said he had looked bad when he came in but still, 2 years was a lot to take in.

Jacob looked at the Shepard and quietly said "2 years and 12 days Commander, you spent most of it on an operating table. I know it must be difficult and I'm sorry I didn't take the time to tell you earlier but we were surrounded by mechs trying to kill us"

Shepard nodded and sighed, he couldn't dwell on this now. He'd been gone for 2 years and now he was back…he'd deal with the repercussions of his absence later. "It's ok…I'll get over it"

Miranda again butted in, no kindness in her voice. Clearly she was a woman who only wanted results and got them however she could "The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done. Start with his personal history"

Jacob groaned "Fine" he lifted up his arm and his omni-tool lit up "Records show that you were a spacer kid and joined the Alliance when you were 16. You were praised as a war hero after defending Elysium, do you remember that?"

Screaming, fires, death and destruction flashed through Shepard's mind, he could still see the faces of dead civilians lining the streets. "It was brutal; the Batarians just kept on coming. I did what I had to until reinforcements arrived. I lost a lot of good friends that day but somehow I survived….I never feel deserving of that 'hero' title"

"Whether you deserved it or not your actions saved thousands of lives that day. Hero or not it showed what Alliance soldiers could do." Jacob smiled as he remembered reading the reports, as a soldier he knew what it was like to lose friends but Shepard had shown the strength to fight on against impossible odds. "Satisfied Miranda?" he raised an eyebrow at his boss.

"Almost, let's try something more recent" her voice was still as cold and clinical as it had been. "When you were on Virmire you had to leave a squad member behind, Ashley Williams was killed in the blast that destroyed the facility. It was your call, why did you leave her behind?"

"_Then don't send the unit Shepard, just send me"_ Feral's voice resounded in his mind. The sight of the Salarian STG members dashing for the Normandy had given everyone hope, but then he came around the corner alone. The feeling of loss was one he'd never forget. "I didn't have a choice. The bomb had come under attack and we had to make sure it went off. I sent one of my squad members to try and rescue Ashley but she under too much enemy fire, he couldn't reach her in time" he sighed as he sat back in his seat. "She died a hero"

"I understand Commander and I wasn't judging what you did. Everybody at Cerberus knows that facility had to be destroyed" he turned to Miranda "Are we done? His memory is clearly intact and I can vouch for his combat skills myself"

Miranda sighed and rolled her eyes "I suppose you're right, I can only hope the Illusive Man accepts our little field test as enough" sitting back and crossing her legs

Shepard smirked "What's wrong Miranda? Afraid you'll piss off the man who writes your pay checks?" laughing slightly as she just glared at him, oh how he wished she had given him a rebuttal. Feral's influence clearly still had a hold on him. Good, it only proved to himself that he was still the man he was.

As the shuttle returned to silence he let his mind drift. It had been 2 years, he wondered how his team had taken the news of his 'death'. He wondered where they all were and how they were doing. If Feral was still with Tali on the Migrant Fleet, if Garrus was still with C-sec…if Liara would ever forgive him for being gone for so long. He sighed to himself, how was he going to explain this? How would anyone that couldn't smell a lie believe this story? The up and coming bridge was going to be rockier than he'd expected, especially now that he was affiliated with Cerberus.

Eventually the shuttle reached the Minuteman station, an impressive enough looking base with some sort of solar light show behind it. Shepard barely had any time to admire the view as the shuttle flew straight into the hanger, the commander was then practically pushed down the hallway before walking down a set of stairs into a small room. The only obvious thing was a blue ring on the floor and he stepped into it slowly. The machine began to hum and an orange light passed over his armour, looking around as he tried to any reason for this until a hologram of a man in a chair appeared before him.

The man exhaled slightly after taking a puff on his cigarette "Commander Shepard" his fingers rubbing along his brow slightly.

Shepard instantly guessed who it must have been, only a leader could enjoy so much theatrics. "Illusive Man….I thought we'd be meeting face to face" he crossed his arms and took an aggressive stance; he never enjoyed being given the run around especially by the leader of a group who had tortured his friend. At the moment he had no choice but to co-operate…and listen.

Apparently cutting to the chase ran in the Cerberus family, it had been minutes and the Illusive Man had told Shepard everything. Why they needed him, human colonies were being attacked and thousands of humans were now missing. The Reapers were behind it, they were targeting humanity and Cerberus suspected a third party was working for them exactly like Saren had worked for Sovereign.

"We're at war, no one wants to admit but humanity is under attack." He finally ended his speech.

"With the money you spent to bring me back you could have trained an army" Shepard scoffed; he needed to know the real reason to bring him back. He was good but if most people had to choose between an army and one man, they'd choose the army.

"True but….you're unique" the Illusive Man was staying cool, he was every bit the charismatic man that Miranda had described. "Not just in your ability, but for what you represent. You stood up for humanity in a key moment, you're not just a soldier you're a symbol. Plus you killed a Reaper, you stopped the invasion." He smiled slightly at that, a barely noticeable curve at the end of his lips "I don't know if they can understand fear but they have to respect that"

Shepard sighed and rubbed his forehead, he couldn't believe he was about to utter these words "If everything you've told me is true….and the Reapers are harvesting human colonies….I might consider helping you" he growled out the last few words, he was so glad Feral wasn't here to hear that.

The Illusive Man turned around and walked back to his chair "Oh Commander I'd be disappointed if you took this on just my word. I have a shuttle to take you to Freedom's Progress." He sat down and took a drag on his cigarette before tapping it into the ash tray "It's the latest colony to go dark. Miranda and Jacob will brief you more on route."

Shepard tilted his head and raised an eyebrow "I sound like I'm being volunteered…do I even have a choice in this? As for Miranda and Jacob do you really expect me to trust them? Miranda murdered Wilson and Jacob is a gun-for-hire." The idea he would go along with these people without even being asked was irritating.

As calm as ever the Illusive Man simply replied "Wilson was a traitor and Miranda did exactly what I expected of her. She has also saved your life in more ways than one. Jacob is a good soldier and he's never fully trusted me. You'll be fine with them for now." Taking another drag on his cigarette before waving it around at him "You always have a choice Shepard. If you don't find the evidence we're both looking for then we can part ways. But first, go to Freedom's Progress. See for yourself and try to find any evidence at all" and with that he ended the call, the orange glow around Shepard dropping back down to the blue ring at his feet.

Shepard sighed before groaning, he couldn't believe he was even considering this. Right now he didn't have a choice but the fact he was considering staying on after Freedom's Progress was killing him. No he had to objective; if humans were being harvested and the Alliance was doing nothing….he couldn't turn his back on all of those people. He was working with Cerberus, not for them. Never for them.

Turning around and walking back up the stairs where Jacob and Miranda were waiting for him. "Come on Commander, we have a colony to visit" the woman spoke. She had better start showing some emotions or this relationship wasn't going to end well. At least she was going to follow his orders, bossing around the cold-hearted ice queen would help make him feel better at least, especially since he guessed she'd like nothing he'd decide.

"Commander….are you ok?" Jacob looked confused "You're smiling and…I've never seen anyone smile after talking to the Illusive Man"

Shepard laughed "No I'm…thinking happy thoughts" he smiled playfully, grinning exactly like the red eyed super soldier had one so many occasions. He was finally starting to appreciate why Feral had always taken such a stance; maybe dying had opened that part of his brain up.

- In orbit of Freedom's Progress, 5 minutes to landing –

"Miranda, if I'm going to command you your attitude needs to improve. The cold, clinical act isn't helping anybody" Shepard just laid it flat on the table, trying to challenge her attitude like Feral just wasn't working. He didn't care about working with people, Shepard did.

Miranda just kept her cool, glaring slightly at the commander "I have the utmost respect of your abilities Shepard, it's just your motivations concern me. Only time will tell if you will be a liability to Cerberus' cause or an asset."

Shepard muttered under his breath "Sounds like you've already made up your mind on that one" rolling his eyes before Miranda continued.

"Don't worry Commander, the Illusive Man made it clear that you are in charge and I will follow his orders. You'll have no issues with me following your lead" at least that sounded like the truth to Shepard.

"Good" Shepard stood up and placed himself next to the door "We'll be landing in a minute and I don't need you second guessing me…..how about you Jacob?" raising an eye at the quiet man sitting on the bench in the Kodiak.

Jacob looked up from his weapon before answering happily "I'm good commander, I was a soldier and I know how it goes. Tell me to jump and I'll ask how high, ask me to kiss a turian however…..well….make sure it's a woman and then I'll ask which cheek" he laughed slightly and Shepard joined in as the colony came into view.

"Ok then, let's go find some evidence" Shepard raised his assault rifle and pushed in a new thermal clip, a feature that he was still getting used to. The Kodiak touching down in a small clearing and the hatch bursting open, he had to admit he missed the Mako but at least this was a little smoother. Jumping out and rushing up to the first door ahead of them. Jacob was clearly a soldier while Miranda seemed more like a spy, she could obviously follow tactics though.

They quickly moved through the first room, it was eerie. Plates at the table, food on the plates and all the places set. It was exactly like the tale from centuries ago, the Mary Celeste. Where everybody just disappeared, they left everything in place and just vanished. How many colonies had been found like this? Working with Cerberus or not, he had to stop this.

The small team moved through the room and into the next clearing, there was a large door up ahead of them. Shepard had to admit that leading a squad again felt good, even if he didn't fully trust the people holding weapons behind him. He still held onto hope that after this he'd be able to recruit some of the squad members he had before his death. Kaidan, Garrus, Feral, Tali and Liara. He knew Wrex was a no go but the rest he hoped would join him again especially Liara.

He felt like he'd been gone for a few days, but to Liara it had been two years. How would she react to him being alive? Would she still feel the same way?...

It didn't matter right now, he shook the thoughts out of his mind. He needed to focus on the task at hand. The blast door was opening up and he needed to be ready, they had no idea what to expect if anything was still present. It may have surprised Miranda and Jacob but after chasing Saren nothing was going to surprise him.

Shots zipped past their heads as they ducked for cover, as he dived down he got a glimpse of what was shooting at him. Groaning to himself as he sat behind a rock "More mechs? Seriously?" sighing as he sat up and put rounds straight into their heads. They weren't really a threat, just an annoyance. No fear meant no taking cover and that meant they were easy pickings. The dogs were slightly more annoying but Miranda and Jacob were both biotics and throws and warps kept them at bay.

The team moved easily through the buildings clearing the mechs as they popped up, some of the mechs barely even had time to deploy before a burst of fire ruptured through their joints and shut them down permanently. Moving up to the next door Shepard moved up and as he pressed closer to the wall he could swear he could hear talking. Bringing a finger to his mouth to keep the other two quiet he waved his hand closer to the door.

"Hear that?" he whispered, as loudly as he could without alerting the voices within.

Jacob and Miranda just nodded before standing up slowly along with Shepard. "Listen" he kept whispering "whoever they are, don't shoot unless they give you no choice. And. I mean no choice. I'd rather avoid a fire fight with anyone who can tell us what happened here" again the pair just nodded.

Lining up in front of the door, one hand on his pistol grip he leant forward and hit the door switch. The door flying open and the 3 man squad entering into the room tactically, covering every angle of the room before aiming their weapons at the voices they had heard.

The group jumped up as fast as they could, Shepard instantly noted the sloppy way some of them held their rifles. But that was quickly overshadowed by the small fact that they were all Quarians. Looking over to Jacob who just shrugged, if they could avoid killing each other it would be one of the first questions he'd ask.

The Quarian at the head of the group shouted at the three humans "Stop right there!" despite the two holding their weapons at their hips his grip on his rifle was perfect. A marine but just by the tone of his voice you could hear how trigger happy he was. Shepard kept a light squeeze on his trigger, this could go either way and he'd be ready for both of them. However the voice that followed took him slightly off guard.

"Prazza! You said you'd let me handle this" the woman's voice emanated from the rear as she shoved her way through grabbing Prazza's rifle and pointing it down at the floor. It couldn't be, of all the Quarians in the universe to be here leading this team it couldn't possibly be her. She then looked up and her head tilted to one side before her voice slowly continued "Shepard?..." her raised hand slowly dropping slightly before Prazza pulled her back into reality.

"I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives!" he tried to raise his rifle again but she pushed it back down towards the floor.

"Put those weapons down. Now!" she ordered the men, Shepard smiled slightly at that. It had been two years, her suit was different. Adorned with a circular golden necklace and purple head dress. Her voice had matured but it was definitely her.

He looked back up at her as she spoke slowly "Shepard….is…is that you?...you're alive?" her voice was cracking slightly, he wasn't surprised by that but he figured she'd need more than just a yes after 2 years.

"Remember that last Geth outpost? What happened between Feral and the Hunter? Did the data Feral gave you help you complete your pilgrimage?" he smiled gently but noted that she looked down slightly at the mention of Feral. However she quickly looked back up again and nodded.

"How could I forget?" she sighed "Yes it did help, more than you know" She turned back to the rest of the Quarians "Prazza weapons down, this is definitely Shepard. He was the only one who knew about my copy of the data other than Feral"

Prazza put his rifle back on his back and the rest of the Quarians followed suit. "Ok but…why is your old Commander working for Cerberus? I never liked Feral but he told stories about what they did to him" his eyes were slightly closed, he was glaring towards the group and his fingers were slightly twitching "Plus there's the Idenna…"

Tali was looking at the floor, Shepard couldn't tell what she was thinking but he doubted it was good. This was exactly what he had feared by even being associated with Cerberus. "I don't know" she finally spoke "Maybe we should ask" she looked up towards him, ignoring the two humans on his flanks before one of her eyebrows raised behind her visor.

"I know how this looks but please hear me out" he raised his hands slightly before continuing "I died Tali. 2 years ago when the Normandy exploded I died. Cerberus has spent countless billions and 2 years completely rebuilding me from scratch. I'm not working for Cerberus" he could see Miranda in his periphery going to argue but he put a hand up in front of her face "Cerberus has asked me to investigate this colony. Humans are being kidnapped in the thousands and no one is doing anything. They want me to find out anything I can. I'm not working for Cerberus but I might consider helping them if there really is a threat to humanity."

Tali was just quiet, listening to every single word and she hated herself for believing in what Shepard was saying. It was so farfetched but then again, Cerberus had created Feral. Prazza opened up before she could even have a chance to "Hah! No one would spend that much time and money on one soldier" he crossed his arms, clearly believing none of Shepard's tale.

"You haven't seen Shepard in combat, trust me Prazza it was money well spent" Tali spoke up, which was the decider. She'd defended Shepard on instinct so she must have believed his story, or at least believed in him. "Ok Shepard, I don't like the idea of Cerberus being here but I'll believe you. Perhaps we can work together. We're here looking for a Quarian named Veetor, he was here on his pilgrimage"

Shepard nodded at the thought of working with Tali, she'd grown up so much in two years, but it didn't surprise him in the least. She was a strong woman she always was and leading was the natural progression. "Working together sounds good. Why was Veetor on pilgrimage here? Isn't that a little odd?"

Tali smiled back at Shepard, it definitely felt like him still. That warmth in his face even with his scarring and the strong aura around him. "Not really although I guess it would seem odd to you. You died before Feral's plan really came into effect. Quarians can go where they like on pilgrimage but Feral managed to help pilgrims go somewhere in the Alliance. It broke down after the Idenna but some colonies still opened their arms to Quarian pilgrims. Veetor didn't like crowds so he came here, it's remote and quiet" she explained quickly to her old Commander.

"Fair enough but before we go on. What happened with the Idenna? You two have both mentioned it now" he pointed at both Tali and Prazza before looking back at Jacob and Miranda, who were trying to avoid eye contact and glaring at the Quarians respectively. "What did Cerberus do?" he growled out that last bit.

Prazza answered that one "They attacked the Migrant Fleet. Infiltrated the Idenna, killed our people and tried to blow it up"

Tali followed on "After that all of the bridges between the Alliance and Flotilla dissolved…because of his past with Cerberus Feral was 'asked' to leave the migrant fleet. They didn't think he'd been involved but they got it into their head that Cerberus would come back for him" she glared at the woman, Miranda.

"That's not how I would have put it. It was nothing personal and it definitely wasn't over him." Miranda's voice staying calm and as annoyingly cold as it had always been. Even Shepard glared at her slightly from his periphery, noting that all of the Quarians, Tali included, had started to take aggressive stances.

Luckily Jacob butted in before the Texas stand-off could develop "We can argue about who killed who later, but for now we have someone to find don't we?" the room was silent for a while before almost a collective sigh passed through the people, a mix of relief and annoyance.

"Thank you Jacob." Shepard smiled back at the man before turning towards Tali "So what do we have here?"

"When Veetor saw us landing he locked himself in a warehouse on the other side of the colony. Those mechs you've been seeing? He reprogrammed them to attack anything that moved" she quickly rattled off all the information she had to, quick and straight to the point. She really had become quite the leader since he'd been gone. He could see that Prazza could be an issue and her youth probably worked against her but one day she really would be a fantastic leader.

"Ok. Veetor is the only one who can tell us what happened to this place. We need to work together to make sure we can get those answers without anyone getting hurt." The two groups would move faster and carry a greater weight of firepower, they could clear different areas of the colony and worm their way towards the terrified Quarian.

Tali nodded "I agree, we'll need two teams to get past all the drones he's activated anyway" snapping her head back to see Prazza and the two Quarians next to him had their weapons in their hands again, stepping back slightly from her.

"So what? Now we're working with Cerberus?" Prazza sounded angry and the fact he had his rifle back in his hands was worrying.

Tali stepped up to him and looked him straight in the eyes "No. You are working for me Prazza, and if you can't follow orders go back and wait on the ship" she growled slightly before stepping away as Prazza and the rest of the Quarians filed back into some sort of order. Turning back towards Shepard and walking up to him "Head for the centre of the colony, we'll go around and circle to the right and draw away some of the drones."

"Sounds good" Shepard smiled, apparently some of his tactics had been absorbed by Tali over their time together. The classic flank and attack. "Stay in radio contact thought, if you need anything don't be afraid to shout."

Tali smiled happily, and there was the caring side of her old commander "Will do Shepard and….it's good to see you again" before grabbing her shotgun and following her squad out of the building and off around to the right.

Shepard smirked slightly, he was sure they'd have to talk more later about Cerberus but for now this was good. He turned around as he took his rifle off his back and faced Jacob and Miranda. "Do either of you have any complaints about working with them?" he raised his eyebrow, largely passing over Jacob as the man shook his head concentrating on Miranda more.

"Like the Illusive Man said, you are in charge Commander. If this is what you want then I'll follow your lead, even if they are Quarians." She huffed slightly as she grabbed her pistol "As Jacob said don't we have a Quarian to find?"

"We have to find Veetor Miranda, they have names and you should use them." He glared at her before waving his hand forward, moving off towards the other door in the building. Heading towards the centre of the colony like Tali had suggested.

The squad quickly moved through the colony again, the only challenge in their path were more of the mechs they had encountered previously. Nothing the squad couldn't handle with their combined firepower, tech skills and biotics. After the Geth these machines were nothing in comparison, they were clunky and terrible shots. It was a nice warm up for Shepard after spending 2 years completely inactive.

However when they exited one of the buildings, the colony ahead of them opened up into what seemed like a quarry with another of the large blast doors ahead of them, down a flight of stairs. A few moments ago drones had flown overhead and Tali had warned Shepard's group of their presence. They still had a way to go before reaching the blast door as it waited in the distance but as the hum of drones came over head Shepard and his team slammed into the solid railing as machine gun fire and rockets started impacting their position.

Both Shepard and Jacob had incendiary ammunition on their weapons, once Miranda had overloaded the drone's shielding their combined weapons fire quickly tore apart the armour of the machines. They had to be careful when fighting the drones, no fear and no cover was fine when the mechs carried pistols but these drones had some serious hardware. The machine guns never stopped firing and so every time one of the humans jumped up to put rounds into one of the drones, bullets would bounce of their shields or barriers.

Eventually the combined efforts of the three destroyed the remaining drones, Shepard and his group moving off into the next building when all of a sudden Tali's voice came over the radio again. She sounded slightly panicked "Shepard! Prazza and his squad rushed on ahead. I told them to wait but they wouldn't listen! They want to find Veetor and take him away before you get here!"

Shepard ignored Miranda's comment about expecting this and responded "Do what you can Tali, I only need to talk to him I promise. We're on our way, Shepard out" cutting contact as he turned to the two operatives. "We need to go now, double time!" he ordered as he began to rush towards the next set of buildings.

The buildings were completely empty, the squad sprinting through the once homes as they moved down stairs, into the cut out quarry leading towards the blast door. Again a group of drones appeared from nowhere but the team easily destroyed them, quick bouts of gun fire and overloads wiped out their shielding before punching destructive holes in them. Shepard had to admit that Jacob and Miranda were both very capable, neither of them were as good technicians as Tali or Feral had been, nor were they as good biotics as Liara. But he could begin to see why the Illusive Man had paired them up with him.

After the drones were gone they approached the blast doors, pointing to either side of the giant door and moving Jacob and Miranda to either side as he hailed Tali again. "Tali we're at the blast door leading to the loading dock."

Gunfire and explosions came through the radio before Tali eventually replied "We're inside the loading docks Shepard and you need to hurry! Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech and it's tearing Prazza's squad apart!"

Both Jacob and Miranda groaned at the word a heavy mech was activated, the YMIR's were designed to be able to give Krogan a run for their money. They never won but they slowed the reptiles down at least. "Well they did want to get to Veetor first" Miranda quipped smirking slightly at her own comment.

"Not helping Miranda" Shepard sighed as he thought to himself. After the Lazarus station he'd read up on the mechs he'd seen wipe people out. Shields and then a ton of armour and weapon systems that'd rival light infantry vehicles. "Ok listen up, Jacob until it's shields are down we'll use disruptor armour, then switch to incendiary. Miranda keep using overload as fast as you can and just generally try to annoy it. I'll use the grenade launcher to try and punch through the plating." He waited for the two of them to nod back at him before he opened his link to Tali again.

"Tali we're in position, when you're ready open the door and we'll come in guns blazing" he quickly said followed by the blast door whirring into life. Breathing deeply as he watched the door slowly slide down. They burst through the now open blast door only to witness the YMIR stomp around the corner, killing 3 quarian marines with no trouble whatsoever. Diving behind crates as they watched the machine fire wildly at one of the buildings to their side, the odd return of fire coming from its windows.

"Ready?" Shepard looked over at Miranda and Jacob, again he received the firm nod from the both of them before they all sprung out of cover and started firing as fast as they could into the mech. Its shields repelling almost all of their bullets as it slowly turned towards them, the lumbering giant lowering its weapons towards them before it launched a rocket straight towards them.

As he dived and rolled away from the rocket Shepard swore loudly, only now did he really start missing Wrex and Feral. If they had been here they could have charged the thing and torn out all of its circuitry before it could have reacted at all. But for now he'd have to make do with the two humans, who had luckily escaped the blast as well.

The group had spread out, causing the YMIR to move even slower as it tried to figure out which was the biggest threat. Which kept on changing as they almost took turns ducking for cover and then leaping out and unloading everything they had into it. Eventually Shepard started to hear the sound of pinging, the shields had collapsed and now their bullets were colliding with the armour plating of the machine. He threw his rifle to his feet and pulled the grenade launcher off his back, leaning out slowly and waiting for the mech to concentrate on Jacob who was furthest away from him.

The moment it did and its back appeared to him he stepped out of cover and started pulling the trigger on the launcher, the satisfying recoil and thump of the launcher throwing an explosive round into the mech over and over again. He'd been told about the cybernetics within him and he guessed the metal plating and heavy weaving on his bones was taking away the recoil, it meant he could fire the grenade launcher as fast as possible without losing control. Putting round after round into the same spot before eventually the mech went limp, falling face down into the ground as smoke and sparks erupted from a large hole in its back.

Shepard smiled and sighed happily, letting the launcher drop to his side "That was the most fun I've had in 2 years, 1 month and 12 days" laughing quietly to himself as he walked back and picked up his rifle, putting both weapons onto his back. Jacob smirked slightly as he re-joined the commander but Miranda was clearly busy being…Miranda. They quickly stepped up into the building where they had seen a return of fire and found a group of injured Quarians with Tali and several other marines trying to patch them up.

Tali looked up and saw the three in front of her "Typical, we can't do anything and then you saunter in like it was nothing Shepard" she smiled in her helmet "Go on and get Veetor, he's in the building over there" she pointed out of the window to one of the buildings.

"Thanks Tali" Shepard nodded and smiled back at her "If we have time after this mess with Veetor is cleared up we should talk a little more" smiling when she just nodded and waved him off. "I know I know Veetor, mechs etcetera etcetera. Come on you two." Walking out of the building and past the still smoking YMIR as they rushed up to the building where Veetor was.

After carefully handling with the distraught and delirious Veetor they had discovered the cause of the human disappearances. The Collectors, a race of relatively unknown creatures from beyond the Omega relays. First the Geth had appeared on Eden Prime and now an even rarer race had been behind Freedom's Progress. This was starting to be the story of his life and the puppeteers behind it were the Reapers. Whether they were working with the Collectors or not was still unclear but they were definitely targeting humans.

Eventually they left the hut Veetor had been hiding in, they took longer than he thought because Miranda demanded the quarian be taken into Cerberus' custody. It was completely out of the question to Shepard, he wouldn't have handed anyone over to Cerberus just on the principle but Veetor was traumatised and the group would be less than gentle to a human let alone an alien. As they were stepping out Shepard watched Tali give Veetor off to a marine before he stepped up "You have time to talk? We have time before the Alliance gets here for a little catch up."

"Shepard! We don't have time for this. We have no idea when the Alliance will arrive and we can't risk that because you wanted to 'catch up'" Miranda actually raised her voice for once; apparently this was too far off the mission dynamic for her.

Shepard just stood up to her "Tell you what, why don't you and Jacob get the shuttle and bring it back here to pick me up" he grinned and before he stopped her from retorting "That's an order, Operative Lawson. I want to catch up with my friend and you want to get out of her as fast as possible. This is the compromise"

Miranda was seething but Jacob just grabbed her arm, wanting to avoid conflict between the two already. "Come on Miranda, give Shepard some time. We'll be back in 10 minutes Commander" he nodded to both Shepard and Tali before walking off back towards the shuttle.

"5 minutes" Miranda growled through her teeth as she stormed off after Jacob.

Shepard turned back towards Tali who was watching the two walk off "She seems fun" she laughed dryly before slumping slightly "So….you were really dead?"

Shepard smiled gently as he took his helmet off, letting it rest between his arm and side. "Yeah I was, last thing I remember before waking up on a surgery table was being spaced" he rubbed the back of his neck "I guess I'm now the second person you know who can come back from the dead" he smiled slightly. "What happened Tali? You mentioned something about the Idenna and Feral but I'm still racing a little"

Tali sighed, rubbing her hands together "….I haven't seen him in 18 months" her head dropped "about that anyway, I try not to think about it" looking back up and smiling slightly behind her visor "We manage to get messages to each other every so often but the last I heard from him was months ago, I know he's alive at least. As for what happened, Cerberus attacked us and the Admiralty Board freaked. The Flotilla had never been attacked before and they decided that Quarians had to go their own way, so Feral was forced to leave" she shrugged and sighed.

Shepard groaned "Cerberus, how haven't they destroyed his life? How the hell am I going to explain this to him? After seeing all this….I have to work with them, I can't let more humans be taken"

Stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder "Tell him that then, he's still Feral. He'll trust you with or without his senses. Tell him you saw me as well, that'll probably calm him down a little….no promises you know how he can be"

Shepard laughed at that, it was true. Feral had an ability to be even more open minded than he was, but still this was Cerberus. "Anything I can give him from you? A message or something as a point of peace? I do intend to get him along on this mission. Hopefully after that job in Geth space you could join us too, it'd be a pleasure to have you both back on my team" the first genuine smile spread onto his face, it was good to be talking to a friend again.

Tali paused for a while; before she started rummaging through her pockets "Give him these" she pulled out two pieces of metal attached to a chain. "They should prove you saw me and the only way he'll be able to give them back will be to join you. If they don't win him over alone I'm sure he'll recognise my scent…I'm going to have to get used to saying that again" she giggled slightly, smiling more at the thought of seeing Feral again soon.

Shepard took the metal into his hands and briefly scanned them before looking back at Tali "These are his dog tags aren't they?" closing his hand before he had the temptation to look at the name on them "When did he give you these?"

Smiling as she watched him stop himself from looking at Feral's name, she didn't need any more proof but that proved it even more. Shepard was definitely Shepard "After Feros and yes they are, with a little something of my own on the back." She pointed to the back of one of them, showing a circuit board sitting on the back. "Tell Feral that's from me as well but…I'd rather he didn't play it in public…It's nothing bad!" panicking when Shepard raised an eyebrow "Keelah nothing like that it's just….I've missed him and it's probably very embarrassing to watch me...rambling"

Shepard laughed as he put the dog tags into a pouch on the back of his chest plate "I'll be sure to pass that on to him Tali" he then looked up as a shuttle flew overhead and slowly hovered down into the plaza "Well that's my ride" he sighed as he put his helmet back onto his head and locked it in place "Better be off, the ice queen will probably kill Jacob if I don't hurry…and I'm starting to like him" the two laughed before sharing a quick friendly hug.

"I'm glad you're back Shepard, the universe has missed you" she smiled again as he stepped off towards the open hatch of the Kodiak, glaring at Miranda as she waited impatiently inside the drop ship. "Bosh'tet" she growled quietly to herself as she walked off the join the rest of her team, who were waiting in their own shuttle.

Watching as the injured and dead were slowly loaded onto the ship, she contemplated her next actions. Finally firing up her omni-tool and sending a message on a channel they had promised to use only in emergencies. Given the circumstances she figured this counted as an appropriate use and despite the dog tags he'd probably appreciate a little warning.

- The Citadel –

In a pitch black room, Feral lay sleeping on his bed. His apartment had remained the same ever since he'd requisitioned it from Udina before departing to the Migrant Fleet. He'd modified it slightly so that the shutters prevented any light from entering the room and after his last job, he was grateful for it as he laid there fast asleep.

His eyes shot open as his omni-tool flared up and buzzed, recognising the channel immediately he panicked before his expression changed to one of shock. His bright red eyes registering the images in front of him, a picture of a man and two simple words.

"Shepard's alive"


	3. Just Like Old Times

The scenario Shepard was currently in was one he'd never faced before, passing off as an enemy to get to a friendly was risky. Crossing a bridge with people you'd eventually have to wipe out and hope no one was left behind you before you can set up defences. Luckily no one saw it coming and when it did happen, the full force of his new squad tore the unsuspecting mercenaries to pieces. Jacob was still with them, along with his two new recruits; Zaeed Massani and Mordin Solus.

Zaeed had been an easy recruit, the veteran dog of war was paid by the Illusive Man to join his squad and that meant he was along for the ride regardless. After they were done on Omega they would have to finish a job for him but that would, hopefully, go down without a glitch.

The Salarian genius, Mordin, however had been much more interesting. It was a standard enough mission but having to deal with legions of Vorcha and Blue Sun's was more than annoying. The drooling morons that were the Vorcha had been using a virus given to them by the collectors to kill just about every single race apart from themselves and human beings. Luckily for them Mordin was everything the dossier said he would be and more, already having come up with a cure Shepard and his team managed to pump it into the ventilation systems and earn Mordin's help with the Collector mission.

The Illusive Man had given Shepard 6 dossiers. 6 people for him to recruit for his mission and he had no idea who any of them were. The Professor and The Mercenary had been picked up and their personalities couldn't have been more different, Shepard had to wonder how many conflicting personalities he'd pick up. The Warlord, The Convict and The Master Thief. Shepard had thought his last team had been an interesting mix of characters but they'd have nothing on the new group he was gathering.

But just for now, as the squad moved up the stairs all he could think about was the current member he was hoping to recruit. The vigilante trying to clean up Omega known as Archangel, he was in the room just ahead of them. The door to which was currently trying to be opened by two mercs with cutting torches. The group just lined up, Zaeed and Jacob kneeling down as Shepard and Mordin stood behind them; opening fire on the two hapless men and cutting them down in seconds. It was unfortunate and Shepard hated doing it, but it had to be done.

Mordin ran up followed closely by Zaeed as Shepard and Jacob watched over the atrium to the building they were now trapped in. Mordin quickly hacking through the door, and the squad bursting into the room. Tactically aiming their weapons over every corner of the large hostel like room, before lowering them and turning their attention to the Turian adorned in dark blue armour. His helmet covering his face and his rifle firmly in his shoulder as he looked down into the atrium.

"Archangel?" Shepard called out to the vigilante, only to be answered by a raised hand. The sniper then fired a single shot, the loud thump of the rifle followed by the sound of a body collapsing to the ground.

The rest of Shepard's group started moving throughout the room, leaving the two to talk and taking positions at the balcony facing the bridge they had just crossed. Shepard watched as the Turian slowly stood up and pulled off his helmet, tilting his head as he looked at the sniper's head. Blue facial markings and a Kuwashii visor, no. It couldn't possibly be.

"Shepard" Archangel spoke as he sat down on a crate, a smile appearing on the Turians face before it dropped "I thought you were dead."

That confirmed it, to him he'd been gone for years but for Shepard it had only been a month. The voice was still as recognisable as it had always been. That raspy tone with a consistent air of confidence. " Garrus!" Shepard smiled again for the first time since Freedom' Progress. Meeting Tali had been unexpected but to find Garrus out here on Omega was just as strange, but still an incredibly welcoming sight. "What are you doing here?"

"Just keeping my skills sharp, a little target practice." Garrus growled out the end of his sentence, after all these mercs had done target practice was the only term that they deserved.

Noticing the slight sneer and growl in Garrus' voice "Are you ok?" stepping up and sitting down on the box opposite him, looking over briefly as Zaeed and Jacob commented quite loudly about the amount of activity occurring at the end of the walkway. His head snapping back to his old friend when he spoke up again.

"I've been better that's for sure, but it's good to see a friendly face" smiling at the scarred face of his old CO. "Killing mercs is hard work….especially on my own" his voice dropping and his shoulders drooping slightly.

"I'm guessing there's a story behind this whole Archangel thing isn't there?" Shepard asked, he was concerned with Garrus. The remark about mercs being target practice had been out of character, he had joked and teased when they served together but it had always been in jest. Now he meant it. And then there was the comment about being on his own now, who had he lost?

Garrus just laughed "Please Shepard, Archangel is name Omega came up with for me. It's just Garrus to you" scoffing and laughing as he spoke, in such a bleak and desolate place apparently even Omega valued a little vigilantism. "As for the story….." his eyes returned to the downcast state they had been "I'll make you a deal….we both get out of here alive. I'll tell you the whole thing"

Shepard smirked "Deal, let's get out of here Garrus. You're going to love the new Normandy" gripping onto his hand and firmly shaking it as they both stood up. "It's damn good to see you again old friend. Ready to kick ass like the old days?"

Walking towards the rest of the squad as they looked out over the bridge "Please Shepard, what do you think I was preparing for with all this target practice?" both sharing a laugh as they looked out over the bridge as the first wave of Eclipse mechs dropped over the barricade.

- Meanwhile outside Afterlife –

A hooded figure was walking past the entrance to Afterlife, rolling his eyes at the constant queue as he headed for the markets off to the side. It still amazed him that so many people didn't know about the back door into the club. Yes you had to deal with some Vorcha snarling at you but he'd handled worse in the past, and he needed to talk to Aria. Nothing happened on this damn rock without her knowledge so who better to question about current events.

Heading down through the markets and into the underbelly of Omega's backstreets, noting that the Quarian trying to earn his way off the rock for so long had finally disappeared. Hoping that it was a good reason behind his disappearance but honestly he doubted it, maybe one day he'd find out. Slowly working his way through the dark, dungy alleys until finally the door opened out into the lower bar area of Afterlife. The lights and noise filling his senses instantly as he stepped through the threshold of the club.

Keeping his hood up over his head he closed his eyes, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden change in light before continuing through the club. The strobing lights shimmering off the various armour plating covering his body. Chest and back plates covering his torso with shoulder plates running half way down his upper arm. Elbow and knee pads that continued down the lower parts of his limbs, ending in fingerless gloves and heavy duty boots. His blue jeans and undershirt were less reflective and created the shadows on his body that helped him remain unnoticed.

Thanking god quietly to himself as he entered the stair way leading to the upper level, the noise being muffled by the thick walls. Ignoring the people around him as they ignored him right back, they were either too drunk to notice or too busy to pay attention to anything around them thanks to their company or the dancing Asari. As per usual, working on Omega was relatively simple; the only person you had to worry about was Aria.

Stepping off to the side and walking up to the turian standing guard at the foot of the stairs leading up to Aria's 'podium'. The guard instantly put his hand in front of him and gripped the trigger of his assault rifle in a half squeeze. "Stop right there, no one sees Aria"

Snickering to himself before sighing "Aria knows me and trust me when I say this, it'll be a lot simpler for us both if you just let me go and talk to her." Cracking his knuckles and tilting his head to one side and glaring straight into the Turians eyes.

His eyes widening slightly before he shook his head, releasing the grip on his trigger as his arm fell to the side before waving it up the stairs. "Go on up….don't cause any trouble"

Patting his shoulder as he grinned and headed up the stairs "I promise not to break more of your toys…..or guards" growling under his breath as he slowly stepped up into Aria's personal space, looking up at the Asari as she sat nonchalantly on her long seat.

"Your men are getting jumpy…I guess I should probably apologise for that but it wasn't really my fault." Shrugging playfully as he stood in front of her, noticing the Batarian at his side never letting any of his eyes off him.

Aria raised an eyebrow and smirked before waving her hands at her guards, stepping away from the hooded man before putting her arms back up onto the seat, finally opening her mouth "Well…..if it isn't my favourite consultant. What can I do for you this time? And it better not involve anything I'm invested in this time." She pointed towards the seat at her side and watched as the man sat down. "You know it's rude to keep your hood up when talking to a woman."

Laughing the man just sat back and left his hood up "Can't have my face getting too noticed especially in a club like this." Smiling back at the woman who just rolled her eyes before agreeing silently to herself "As for what you can do for me. Any information you have on Commander Shepard's reappearance would be most appreciated."

"Commander Shepard? He's dead isn't he? I would've thought you of all people would know that." She raised her eyebrow, grinning at the man before her face fell as he lit up his omni-tool. After a few moments a picture appeared from the pad on his hand, a man who was very obviously Commander John Shepard sitting in the very same place he was right now.

"This photo was taken just under a day ago, I know the one rule here Aria but that doesn't mean you can fuck with me back" the hooded figure's voice was calm and serious. "Now I know you of all people would've checked to make sure he was who he said he was, I want to know everything you know and then I'll leave." Shutting off his omni-tool and before putting his hands in his lap, just looking into her eyes as he talked.

Aria just laughed before looking over at him, smiling "I've always liked the way you do things, you come across so carefree but the moment it matters you are all business. Fine, I'll tell you what I know and first and foremost….he is Commander Shepard. Not a clone, not someone wearing his face. I don't know how but he is definitely the real deal."

A guard stepped up to her when she beckoned and went to hand her a data pad before she pointed to her guest, reluctantly handing it over to him. "That's the test we did when I first met him, all the proof you need. As for why he's here. He's recruiting a team to take on the collectors."

The man looked up from the data pad and raised his eyebrow "…..that race from beyond the Omega-4 relay? Those collectors?" shaking his head slightly when she just nodded in response "Do you know why?" rolling his eyes when she just shook her head and smirked at him.

"I do know that so far he has recruited Zaeed Massani and Mordin Solus. Currently he's trying to rescue Archangel from the collective forces of the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack. He's also got two other people with him, Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor, but he arrived with them." She calmly rolled the information off her tongue, watching his reactions to the names. He smiled at the name Archangel but once she had mentioned Miranda and Jacob he nearly broke the data pad his fist clenched so tightly.

She was about to say something before he interrupted her "Is that all you have on him?" he had shut off the pad and put it down on the seat next to him. "Anything else at all before I head back into Citadel space?" he sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

"Not that I can think of anyway….last I heard the leader of the Eclipse had been killed and Garm was trying his hand. I can only imagine how that's going to turn out though." She smirked again as she sat back into her seat, leaning her head back and looking up to the ceiling.

- With Shepard –

Garm's body fell to the ground in a crushing heap, the last burst from Shepard's rifle had torn straight through his armour and not even the battle-hardened Krogan could survive the holes it put in his body. His rifle dropping down to his side as he panted, after running through the tunnels underneath this place while Vorcha and the odd Krogan tried to kill him, fighting Garm had been a nightmare.

He thanked his gut for telling him to leave Zaeed behind as he took Jacob and Mordin down with him. He doubted even he could have held off the massive assault on his own; however as he approached Garrus he saw that the Turian was barely looking fatigued. Even after the days of solitary defence. "I guess I am a little rusty after being dead for 2 years" Shepard spoke up as he stepped towards his old friend.

"Hah!" Garrus just snorted as he leant back against a wall "There is, of course, the possibility that I'm just better than you are now…." Stopping as he watched Shepard simply raise an eyebrow at him "…or you could be a little rusty….besides you just ran through a Vorcha infested hell." He chuckled again and this time Shepard joined him.

"You ran through hell for me once Garrus, figured it was time I repaid you" he stepped up alongside the Turian and gazed out across the bridge.

Garrus looked in the same direction before finally speaking again, the moment of silence had been used to imagine what could possibly be coming next. "You're kicking ass Shepard, they've barely even scratched me and~ now we took out Garm and his blood pack" the elation in his voice easily recognisable. "About time too, he was one tough bastard."

"You fought him before?" Shepard looked at Garrus from his periphery, turning his head very slightly as they both kept their main eyesight on the walkway.

"Yeah once, I managed to catch him alone but I still couldn't take him down." Garrus sighed as he remembered the long brawl "Shepard it was a good thing Feral was on our side because Garm could regenerate just as fast as he could….." he looked over his shoulder at the Krogans body "Thank the spirits he can't come back from the dead though" shaking his head as he remembered the first time he witnessed Feral's 'party trick'.

Shepard turned his head fully towards Garrus; his eyes slightly wide as he shared the small laugh "That tough huh?"

"I managed to keep up with him though…if his damn Vorcha hadn't shown up I might have been able to take him down. But that doesn't matter, he's dead now and only the Blue Sun's are left in our way" he smirked as he could see Shepard was thinking the same thing he was.

"I say we charge our way out, there's five of us and that counts for more than anything they have waiting for us" smirking as Garrus nodded and slammed a fresh thermal clip into his sniper rifle.

"Tarak won't be expecting us to meet him head on either…" Garrus stopped as suddenly glass smashed at the other side of the room. Tarak's gunship hovering just in front of the now open window as mercenaries began to drop through the new entrance. Shepard's group had immediately dived for cover before the fire fight could start. Garrus getting a well-placed round off before he did, taking an unsuspecting Batarian's head clean off.

Garrus slammed his back into one of the pillars as he growled out a shout over the gun fire "Damn it! I thought I took that thing down for good already" seething slightly as he watched it fly off to the side. It put the odds in the Blue Sun's favour again but then he noticed it, a small trail of smoke following the flying weapons platform.

Shepard just shrugged his soldier's slightly as he crouched down near Garrus "I thought the guy fixing it was working too hard so I suggested he take a break." Not waiting for the turian's response before he spun briefly out of cover to pellet an advancing merc's shields, Mordin finishing the job for him as he proceeded to immolate him.

Garrus just shook his head slightly as he leant out to fire again, the power of his rifle throwing his target into the wall and knocking their shields out completely. The incendiary gunfire from the three human's weapons was making short work of any armour the mercenaries were wearing. For now the mercenary forces weren't a threat, but the moment that gunship decided to enter the fray it would become a lot trickier.

The first wave was quickly dealt with and the lull in gunfire almost made it feel like it was over until Zaeed called from across the room "They're rappelling onto the ground floor, the bastards are trying to flank us!"

Shepard looked towards Mordin and Jacob and gave them the signal to stay back and watch their backs, tapping Garrus on the shoulder the two quickly leapt across the room and joined Zaeed. Shepard adding to the suppressive assault rifle fire as Garrus carefully and precisely put sniper rounds into any human or batarian stupid enough to lean out of cover.

He could hear Jacob and Mordin occasionally conversing as they took out attackers from the window they had just defended. The two were handling the small numbers of attackers with ease, the combined tech and biotic skills of the pair were more than enough. Shepard was just glad that Jacob was working with Mordin so well, Cerberus' xenophobic nature was clearly of no interest to the ex-soldier.

Zaeed obviously didn't care either, he only gave a damn about if you could kill the enemy or not. If you could and you weren't going to stab him in the back, you would get along with him fine. The three at the balcony were picking off targets all across the board, the lower floor had become a killing zone and when a group made a dash for the stairs they were instantly cut down.

Concussive shots exploding in front and behind the group immediately killed the leader of the team. Incendiary rounds ripping through the armour of the remaining as the explosions tore off their shielding, single loud pounds launching a thick rifle round straight through several of the charging mercenaries. Within seconds the 5 man team laid dead on the stairs, bullet holes, blood splatters and burn scars coating the once pristine metal stairs.

Silence finally filled the large building, the crackling a few small fires burning echoed around the room. Shepard and his team taking long, deep breaths as they fully expected another mercenary to pop out of cover. This was standard procedure now, they had acted out the snap ambush and now they were watching and waiting for any signs of attack.

Finally Shepard let out a deep sigh, slowly stepping back and rising up again. "Ok. Zaeed and I will head down and check the area. Jacob and Mordin stay where you are. Garrus watch over us and make sure no one gets the jump on us." He whispered out to his team, Mordin and Jacob receiving the order over their short wave radios. He saw Garrus and Zaeed nod and he assumed the second group did too, tapping Zaeed on the shoulder the two slowly made their way out towards the door.

Garrus stood up to give himself a better vantage point over the lower floor. The room was quiet and if any tried to make a move he'd hear them clearly over the tiny fires. His one eye through the scope of his rifle, and the other's view being enhanced by his visor as he swept his rifle over the killing zone. It was only then he noticed that a tiny humming noise was slowly getting louder and louder, his eyes bolted open as he spun around to face the sound. Light blaring into his face as an angry voice filled the air.

"Archangel!" Tarak's synthesised voice caught Shepard's attention and both he and Zaeed started sprinting back the way they had come. 'Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Shepard mentally kicked himself, he'd forgotten the damn gunship and he'd left Garrus alone to face the metal monster. As he burst back into the room he could hear the repeating machine gunfire and when he finally dived into cover a huge explosion rocked the building.

"Garrus!" he cried out as he watched the once invincible looking Turian getting thrown across the room like a rag doll, before lying immobile on the floor. A blue liquid already forming around his body forcing Shepard's face into a snarl. "Take that fucking bird down, now!" throwing his rifle down to the ground as he pulled his new missile launcher off his back, the rest of his team firing everything they have at the gun ship.

Shepard just peered over the sofa he was crouching behind, clutching onto his missile launcher tightly as he watched and waited for the perfect moment to fire a barrage at the ship. The noise of the battle became muffled and the only sounds that filled his ears was his own breathing and the dull thumping of the various weapons. Finally he saw the opportunity he'd been waiting for, it hadn't taken as long as he thought it would, clearly Tarak was desperate to wipe them all out.

He jumped up out from behind the sofa and squeezed the trigger as fast as the weapon would allow him, sending a constant stream of missiles flying directly into the gunship. Explosions rocking the building as missile after missile detonated against its metal body, finally one of the engines detonated before a finally missile pierced straight through its hull. The explosive tip being punched straight into the heart of the machine before the explosion tore it apart from the inside.

Shepard didn't have time to enjoy watching the gunship burst into flames and careen down into the bottom of Omega's depths; he dropped the missile launcher down alongside his assault rifle and ran to Garrus' side. He was in a bad way, blood was pouring from his shoulder and the side of his head and he could see the extent of the damage as he rolled him over onto his side. His arm just dropped to his side, he'd been ready to apply medi-gel but with that much damage he doubted it'd do anything.

Those thoughts were immediately dispelled from his mind when Garrus took a sudden gasp for air, his eyes bolting open and darting frantically around the room, gripping onto his rifle as he tried to hold onto anything while he fought for his life. Pushing medi-gel into the wounds on the side of his face and shoulder he tried to grab his attention and keep him focused. "Come on Garrus! We're getting you out of here buddy!" he didn't shout but his voice was hard as he gave his old friend a direct order to stay alive.

Jacob didn't even have to be told and he was already radioing the Normandy as he watched Shepard and Mordin apply as much gel as they could to his wounds to try and stem the steady fly of his blue blood. "Normandy this is ground crew. We need an immediate casevac on our co-ordinates. Send the Kodiak in there's plenty of room for an extraction." He nodded as he received the affirmative and followed direction as Mordin told the humans what to do. The whole time Garrus pants became rougher and more ragged but he was still alive, it looked like he was going to make it. He'd never admit it, but Garrus was probably the toughest soldier he'd ever met.

- Several hours later, the Normandy's comm room –

Jacob stepped into the room, Shepard was leaning against the table in the centre of the large room and looked up expectantly at him. Walking to the other side of the table before leaning on it and looking at Shepard he finally delivered the news. "Commander, we've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit." The explosion had torn away large amounts of radiation proof tissue from the side of his face and shoulder, Doctor Chakwas luckily had dealt with explosion wounds before on several occasions. Though she commented that this was the second time she'd seen wounds as bad as these.

"The docs corrected with surgery and some cybernetics. Luckily from what we can tell he'll have full functionality, but…" he turned his head and smiled as the door opened again "he's one tough son of a bitch"

"Shepard" Garrus stepped into the room and stood at the head of the table, his armour had a large, charred hole in its neck and the burning seemed to follow up to the fresh cuts on his mandibles. Stopping at the white material that was currently holding his neck and the back of his head together. "Nobody would give me a mirror, how bad is it?"

Shepard just laughed at the fact that it looked like Garrus and Jacob had taken the time to plan his entrance, but also that Garrus' sense of humour clearly hadn't suffered a single scratch. "Ah hell Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap a little face paint on and no one will ever notice the difference" he crossed his arms and smiled at his friend, both from the humour filling the room but also from the joy that he hadn't lost a close friend today.

"Hah!...ow…." Garrus laughed before groaning loudly "Shepard please, don't make me laugh. Damn it, my face is barely holding together as it is" chuckling slightly as he tried to laugh without moving his mandibles. "Ah well, it's probably for the best. Everyone was ignoring you and hitting on me" he shrugged his shoulders "Only fair that you get a chance."

Shepard shook his head and laughed again, before pointing to the scars that adorned his own face. Garrus shrugged again and snorted "Or not, tell you what I promise to send a few your way. My way of saying thank you for dragging my ass back here and taping my head back together."

"Deal" Shepard laughed again before looking over his shoulder. Jacob just saluted before walking out of the room, Garrus following him and waiting for the door to shut before he started to talk again.

"Frankly Shepard….I'm more worried about you. Cerberus? Do I even need to begin with what a terrible idea this is? We all know what they've done in the past and I've heard rumours over the last 2 years as well. Nothing good." Garrus sighed as he waited for Shepard's response.

"That's why I'm glad you're here Garrus. I don't trust anyone on this ship yet and so far you're the only person I can trust. If I'm walking into hell I need you here with me. We're not working for them, just with them." He rubbed his forehead and sat against the railing lining the room.

Garrus sighed before nodding, in the lull between the Eclipse and Blood Pack Shepard had told him about the Collectors and the Reapers. They had to be stopped and if Cerberus were the only ones doing anything then they really had no choice, plus it was Shepard and he trusted him. "Fair enough although, you realise this plan has me walking into hell with you? Hah!...just like old times right?"

"Just like old times Garrus" Shepard smiled and gripped his friends shoulder "It's good to have you on board again."

"Good to be back on board" returning the gesture before they pushed each other off "I'm fit for duty whenever you need me Shepard. Until then I'll be down in the forward batteries, I can't wait to see what kind of firepower this thing has" smiling as best as he could before he moved out of the comm room.

Shepard followed him as far as the CIC, moving up to the galaxy map to plan his next move. He was going to be heading towards the citadel but first he'd promised Zaeed they'd stop off on Zorya to finish the deal the Illusive Man had struck with the mercenary.

- 2 hours later, Councillor Anderson's Office on the Citadel –

"This is all you could find?" Anderson looked up from the data pad he'd just been handed, sighing as he looked back down and read over everything on it again. "So Shepard is alive and it looks like he's working with Cerberus?"

"That is what it looks like at this moment yes" the man fidgeted in his chair slightly, leaning forward onto his arms "but I don't think that's all there is to it. With Shepard it's never that simple and it has something to do with the disappearances on those human colonies."

Anderson looked up and squinted his eyes "What? Who told you….never mind I probably don't want to know" he sighed again and sat back in his chair, throwing the pad onto his desk. "So what do you think we should do?"

"You, will send him an email on this frequency." Tapping the data pad and pointing out the channel "Ask him to come and visit you, you're an old friend so he'll do it anyway. Then we….ask him to explain. Trust me I don't like this as much as you do but…there's more to this Anderson. If he was really working for Cerberus he wouldn't be recruiting Mordin Solus. There's more to this, I know it."

The human representative sat in silence for a few moments before nodding in agreement. "You're right. It's still Shepard and he wouldn't do anything like this without a just cause. Ok I'll send the message and request him to come and see me." He fired up his computer and let the machine warm up. "I want you here when he shows up and I want you to be in standard marine armour"

The man laughed and went to stand up "Still trying to get me into an Alliance uniform Anderson?" waving it off as Anderson just blankly stared at him "I know, I know this is serious. Fine, I can do incognito. Call me when Shepard is coming or you need a consult" quickly stepping out of the Councillors office, leaving Anderson to his own devices as he started writing the message.

- The Normandy's comm room –

"What happened down there Shepard? Do you have any idea how hard it was to gain Zaeed as an asset?" The Illusive Man spat out towards the Commander, they were in a holo-call after the mission on Zorya and Shepard had imparted bad news; Zaeed Massani had been killed.

Shepard sighed and growled back "He got himself killed! His own desires got in the way of the way I do things and that's why he was killed!" crossing his arms and standing his ground firmly as the Illusive Man sat back down and put his head into his hand. "You asked me to lead a team my way, you asked for me to command a squad to defeat the Collectors. Zaeed would never have followed my orders and never accepted my decisions. Even if he hadn't died I'd have requested we get rid of him."

Taking a drag on his cigarette as he swirled his whiskey in its glass before finally responding, the calmness of his voice returning "Fine. I don't like it but you're right on this occasion. You don't need any distractions and you're team needs to be just as focused. It's understandable but still a shame."

Shepard just smiled "Don't worry I already have a replacement in mind" before going to walk away. His head snapping back around as the Illusive Man stood back up and walked up towards him.

"Shepard, no. I know who you're thinking about and I'm saying no right now. His past with us is far too…complicated and even if he did agree to join you I'd be risking every agent on that ship." He was still calm as he paced around "Feral is a no-go Shepard, but I do have an alternative lined up. His dossier will be on your desk by the time you reach your quarters."

"Zaeed just died and you already have a replacement? Who is he?" Shepard raised an eyebrow, Cerberus was cold but clearly death didn't even faze their leader.

The Illusive Man smiled "It pays to be prepared Shepard, as for who he is? We don't really know, we just know what he's done and that he's one of the best."

"So why wasn't he on the roster off the bat?" fidgeting slightly as he wondered why the Illusive Man had withheld this possible recruit.

"His real identity is a very well-kept secret that Councillor Anderson has been holding onto. We know he's human but no one has ever seen his face, all we know is he's been dubbed "The Consultant" on more than one occasion. So much so that the moniker stuck with him. As for why I withheld him, he's not officially Alliance but I can't believe he'll abandon his post for us easily. Zaeed was an easier, and cheaper, option." Walking back to his seat and settling into the metal frame. "Go to the Citadel Shepard. Get Kasumi Goto and then track down the Consultant." He finished before pushing a button on the arm of his chair, shutting off the call.

Sighing happily as the lights in the room came back on and he finally stepped out after the heated debriefing. His armour was starting to annoy him and he was itching to get it off, not even bothering to acknowledge Jacob beyond a quick nod as he walked towards the elevator. Zorya had been tropical and the fires in the factory had made him sweat excessively, now it was irritating him underneath his armour.

After finally making it back to his quarters he wasted no time tearing his suit off, throwing each piece onto his bed before quickly jumping into his own private shower. Enjoying the fact that at least he didn't have to worry too much about water consumption on this ship. The Alliance had water quotas that had to be followed but seeing as Miranda and EDI were staying on top of amenities like water, he just enjoyed the sensation of the hot water on his skin.

Stepping out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist he looked over at his desk, noticing the data-pad sitting next to his private computer. He was pretty much dry, having rubbed himself down with the towel before stepping out, so he sat down on his seat and began to read the new dossier.

_The Consultant_

_Human, Male, Age Unknown, Name Unknown. _

_Surprisingly little is known about this man, the only person to openly admit to knowing his identity is Councillor Anderson and no trail has been found on any network. The Consultant is essentially a freelance agent under the Councillors protection, he is usually hired to do jobs for various Citadel races but he has been known to work for non-citadel races as well. Eye witness accounts have described his skill as a technician and his ability to resolve most situations he's come into contact with. His moniker was initially born as a joke about how he was originally called in to help or 'consult' on occasions that required specialised skills. Acquisition of the Consultant is highly recommended but unlikely to prove successful. _

Shepard breathed deeply as he read the final lines and put the data pad down. Whoever he was he was clearly valued by the Alliance and by his old friend Cap…Councillor Anderson, mentally correcting himself at his small slip up. If Anderson trusted the man enough to hide his identity then Shepard knew he could trust him too, the real challenge would just be convincing him to join his mission.

Rubbing his forehead as he sat forward onto his desk. They were currently en-route to the Citadel and they'd be there in 3-4 hours, plenty of time to catch up on some well-deserved sleep. He was about to stand up when his terminal lit up and the small mail icon lit up in the corner. Sitting back down he opened up his inbox and his eyes widened as he saw who had written the message he had just received.

"I need you to come and talk to me on the Citadel. A lot has changed in the last two years. You put me on the Council, and it's only fair that you be allowed to speak for yourself about what we've been hearing. Please Shepard; come as soon as you can. The rumours around your return are anything but good."


	4. The Consultant and the Thief

Shepard stood in the cockpit with Joker as the Normandy glided into the dock at the Citadel. After 2 years so much had changed, and Garrus had informed him that the Citadel had changed quite a bit in his absence, but it seemed that one of the only constants in his life was Jeff 'Joker' Moreau. He had joined the pilot in the cockpit when EDI had told him they were making their final approaches to the Citadel a few minutes ago.

"Shepard I'm just saying, you were pretty famous even before you blew up the giant evil space lobster. After you died there were pretty much memorial services all over the galaxy so…don't be surprised if people stare at you…." Joker looked over his shoulder at the commander who was just smiling as he rambled on. "Just saying….you might want to wear a helmet at least until people realise you're back." Shrugging as he tapped a few buttons, the ship finally coming to a halt.

"Thank you for the warning Joker but I'm sure I'll survive a few stares…..whether I'll be able to survive Miranda's non-stop nagging though…." Groaning and rolling his eyes slightly "There's something seriously wrong with that woman."

EDI's holographic form lit up between Joker and Shepard, her 'face' flashing as she spoke "Operative Lawson has passed all health scans with exemplary standards. I assure you Commander that she is perfectly healthy."

Joker just groaned and held his head in his hands whilst Shepard quietly chuckled at the pilot's reaction. "That was a joke EDI, he was joking." Sighing as he looked over his shoulder "See what I have to deal with?"

Shepard just shrugged as he slowly turned around "I'm sure she'll get it eventually, after all she is practically stuck with you 24/7" smiling as he heard EDI and Joker start talking. Stepping out of the cockpit he was greeted by Garrus and Miranda. Mordin and Jacob weren't specifically needed for picking up Kasumi or the Consultant, that being said neither was Miranda but she insisted. Garrus was a welcome addition, as always, however.

"Shepard!" Garrus smiled and walked up to him "looking forward to a day trip on the Citadel? It'll be just like old times…except the elevators are gone now and I did so enjoy those talks we had." His mandibles flared playfully as Shepard just laughed before Miranda stepped in and spoilt the atmosphere.

"Need I remind you both that we're here to recruit two new team members?" She glared at Garrus, she had finally realised that eyeballing Shepard would lead no-where but she could at least push her authority over the rest of the team. "If you haven't noticed you're now affiliated with a group that is largely considered a terrorist cell and you want to have a day trip including seeing Councillor Anderson."

Shepard rolled his eyes "We haven't forgotten Miranda, but it doesn't hurt to take it easy every so often. This mission is slightly high risk and tensions can get just a little bit on edge so just relax a little, and that's a request not an order." Stepping towards the airlock as it hissed open slowly "and at least you admit that you're a terrorist group now." Smirking to himself as Miranda started to retort.

Finally after a relatively shorter decontamination period than the previous Normandy, they stepped out into the docks. He quickly noted that this area was a lot busier than he remembered. The joys of being stuck in a civilian docking area rather than the private C-Sec dock he'd been privileged with last time he was here.

They were about to move towards the doors leading past the security station and into the citadel itself, when a voice seemingly emanated from thin air. "Commander Shepard. We have the finest companions waiting for you. Perhaps something petite, smart and Japanese would be your style." He just looked around before finally Garrus tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the cylinder poking up from the floor.

"New advertising poles….fun I know but I believe that would be our new recruit calling." His voice clicking as Shepard shook his head at the irritating device.

"Let me guess…these things are everywhere too and they know who you are just by seeing you?" groaning as Garrus just nodded before stepping towards the advertisement, the face reappearing and finally speaking again.

"Please tell me your password Commander Shepard." The woman's voice rang out as her head turned and looked straight into his eyes.

"Silence is golden" he quickly responded to the thief, who clearly enjoyed the theatrical side of her profession.

The face just smiled before responding again "Thank you, good to finally meet you Commander. Kasumi Goto….I'm a fan."

Shepard raised an eyebrow before laughing "Erm…thank you. So I'm guessing all this smoke and mirrors is in an effort to keep a low profile? I would've thought meeting in a dark alley way would've been quieter."

Kasumi's synthesised image flickered slightly as she smiled and laughed back "You would think so but I've always found dark alleyways have a tendency to hide unwanted guests. Besides this is much more fun…you should see yourself, talking to an advert."

Miranda groaned and stepped away, she obviously didn't enjoy the idea of letting yet another free spirited individual onto the team but it was the Illusive Man's orders. She just seriously doubted that any secret on the ship would remain a secret long after she boarded the Normandy, something Shepard could look to exploit.

Shepard just watched her walk off before turning back towards 'Kasumi'. She had a point, the last person who'd made a meeting point in a dark alley ended up being a young Quarian who was then ambushed by assassins. "Ok fair enough, but how do you know it's really me? So far I've been questioned, scanned and field tested but you just accepted that I am who I say I am."

Kasumi's image looked to the side and her face scrunched up as she thought. "There's a certain…..aura to you." Pausing again as she collected her words in her mind "Like you've seen things that no one else has, even without knowing what you like. I knew it was you"

Shepard heard Garrus agree behind him "I have to admit that's how I knew it was you coming across that bridge." He shrugged and Shepard smiled before shaking his head.

"So Kasumi….I'm assuming Cerberus paid you a vast amount of money to join my squad and I bet there's some sort of deal they made with you. Am I correct?" Shepard cocked his eyebrow up and Kasumi just laughed slightly, her hand coming up over her mouth. Laughing into it to keep it as quiet as she could.

"Yes well, they probably should've mentioned that to you. No matter we can discuss it later. As for now, my services are exclusively yours so…..what now Commander?" she enquired, the eagerness to join him was evident in her tone.

"Well if you want you can proceed to the Normandy and get settled in or….you can drop down from wherever you're hiding nearby and join me and my friends to collect another recruit." He smiled as she looked slightly shocked. "These things can't have a big range so you had to be close, your voice sounds like it's being amplified and you stopped yourself from laughing too loudly."

Kasumi bit her bottom lip before sighing "You are good, very well I'll accompany you. Besides if you're recruiting someone else I need to see if they are any good too." The advert turning to static and slowly moving back down into the ground. Shepard and Garrus just looked at each other until finally a small woman landed between them, making Garrus jump back and Shepard laugh at his friend's shocked expression.

"So" Kasumi smiled as she slowly stood up "who are we recruiting next and where do we get him?" putting her hands on her hips as she stood between the two taller men.

"We're trying to find the Consultant and we're going to see Councillor Anderson about finding him" Shepard just replied as he stepped off towards the security doors, leaving Kasumi standing with Garrus as Miranda was already waiting for the rest of them by the doors.

Before Garrus could follow Shepard and Miranda through the doors leading towards the security scanners Kasumi grabbed his arm and held him back, causing him to turn back towards her and tilt his head questioningly.

Kasumi just pointed at him and slowly let the words roll off her tongue "You must be Garrus Vakarian." Leaning forward slightly to inspect the side of his face "albeit minus a few pieces of your face. So anything you can tell me about my new boss….or about this Consultant we're off to find?" finally releasing his arm when he turned back towards her, watching the door shut in his peripheral vision as Miranda lost her patience.

Snorting slightly as he rubbed the side of his neck, letting one of his fingers trail slightly along his mandible "Yeah I'm Garrus, and I'm guessing you know that because you're such a 'fan' of Shepard's." extenuating the word fan with quotation marks.

Kasumi just shrugged and smiled back playfully "What? I'm not allowed to be impressed by what he's done?" smirking when Garrus just sighed, giving an agreeing look to the petite thief. "See, even you agree with me. Besides I do my research before I hit any job, and especially one as high profile as this." Crossing her arms as she smiled proudly up at Garrus. "So again, you were one of Shepard's closest friends before the incident. Anything you can tell me about Shepard or this Consultant we're off to find?"

"You're not going to let this go if I simply walk away will you?" Garrus quickly spoke before sighing and laughing as she shook her head, whilst rolling on the balls of her feet slightly. "Fine. As far as Shepard goes you'll find out whatever you want to know pretty quickly anyway, he makes a habit of getting to know his team on a one-to-one basis." He threw up one of his hands, brushing the first of her questions to one side.

"As for the Consultant, neither Shepard not Cerberus have a clue who he is." He shrugged his shoulders, his mandibles flaring slightly in a split second smirk. Ignoring the questioning stare of Kasumi he just carried on. "But his reputation precedes him; I've read a few files on his work compiled by mercenary groups and let's just say he pissed them off almost as much as I did." he finally shrugged his shoulders and waited for Kasumi to respond, instead she just kept looking at him. "…..ok now you're being creepy…"

Kasumi's stare finally turned into a smile and she slowly rose her finger up and prodded his chest "You know who he is don't you?" her smile turning into a grin as she pried.

Garrus on the other hand almost jumped back, he'd been restricted in the amount of social contact he'd had recently but had he been that obvious? "W-what?...I have no idea what you're talking about I just told you…" reaching up to scratch the back of his neck and finally just stopping and sighing. "Damn…what gave me away?" groaning as he accepted he'd been caught.

Kasumi just flicked her eyebrows up as she stood proudly in front of Garrus, her arms crossing over her waist "The moment you mentioned that neither Shepard nor Cerberus knew who he was, your face practically exploded with delight…..sorry poor choice of words" shaking her head as Garrus glared at her for her unfortunate word placement.

Garrus laughed as she slightly tripped up "It's ok, I'm sure I'll get worse pretty soon anyway." Breathing deeply as they both recomposed their selves "Either way…you're right I do know him but~ I'm going to keep that to myself for now. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise now would we?" he smirked before striding off to catch up with Shepard and Miranda. By the time they'd catch up, the meeting with Anderson would probably be over.

Kasumi just watched the turian walk off with her jaw hanging down and a disappointed look in her eyes "I'm a thief. I love spoiling surprises!" blinking as she realised she had probably said that first bit a little too loudly, she just jogged silently after Garrus and activated her cloak the moment she could. Wouldn't want C-sec knowing she was back on the Citadel now.

- Councillor Anderson's Office –

"I hate….Alliance armour….it's just so constricting" groaning as he tried to adjust to the layer of under armour beneath the total body plating, trying to itch beneath the seals around his neck before giving up and sitting on the councillors desk, facing away from the door. "So when are we expecting him Anderson?" picking the helmet up and holding it in his lap.

"Any minute now I would think, his reply to my message seemed to suggest he'd be coming within a few days and then a ship looking exactly the Normandy just landed in the docks." Anderson sighed, in a few minutes the council would call in preparation for Shepard's visit. "and then of course there is this." He handed the man a data-pad.

Laughing as he read the information of the screen "Well that's good news at least." Handing the pad back "he's not trying to hide and if he is….well he's doing a really crap job of it."

"Agreed, Shepard clearly isn't interested in staying under the radar and that can only mean good things. Let's hope the rest of the council see's it that way." Breathing in deeply as the terminals against one end of his office started to light up.

"After they dismissed the Reapers….all we can do is hope they'll believe in him at least" sighing as he stretched out his limbs some more, trying his best to regain the flexibility he was accustomed to as one by one the holographic figures of the council started to appear in the room. Only one piece of the puzzle was missing now and he'd be here pretty soon.

- The Presidium, Embassy Reception –

Shepard was walking towards the stairs that lead to the office that once belonged to Ambassador Udina, Miranda walking besides him as they made their way across the reception. "Miranda, we had time to wait for them. I would've preferred having Garrus here for this as well." He practically growled at her over his shoulder.

"Kasumi and Garrus were wasting time Shepard; every second we are on the Citadel is time we could be using to find our new recruits. Our mission doesn't give us the luxury of time and I simply wanted to be more productive than just idly socialising." Miranda replied nonchalantly before she was brought face to face with Shepard as he stopped in front of her.

"Ok listen very closely. Drop the ice queen act because it'll get you nowhere with me. I don't care who you think you are or what the Illusive Man thinks of you, because at this point in time you work for me." He quietly but firmly spoke as he glared into her eyes. "You need to lighten up because even Wrex was easier to deal with than you." Before she could answer he just turned around and stormed off, leaving her to glare at the back of his head.

As he headed up the familiar stair way he slowly approached the door, stopping for a brief second and breathing in deeply. There was so much running through his head, how would his old friend react to his current situation? Would he be able to help him in any capacity and part of him even wondered if he'd give up any information on the Consultant at all. Sighing one final time he hit the switch to the door and stepped in.

The moment he caught sight on Anderson conversing with his fellow council members those doubts left his mind as instantly as they had come. Stepping into the room and seeing Anderson again was a relief and after everything he'd been through seeing the one man who'd always had his back was a welcome sight.

The other figure in the room was more of a worry however, dressed in full Alliance armour Shepard partly considered if he was here to arrest him. But when the soldier simply stood up off the desk and pulled his helmet over his head, instead of moving against him or Miranda, who'd finally entered the room as well, he simply walked off into a corner. He'd only caught a brief glimpse of the back of the man's head, his brown hair hiding the side of his face instantly as he looked away from the door. This caused him to give out another sigh of silent relief; it looked like confrontation could be avoided.

"Shepard will be here any-oh" Anderson turned as Shepard walked in "Commander, we were just talking about you" smiling as he tilted his head towards the councillors. Instantly offering a hand out to the commander as he strode up to him, the two men briefly ignoring the council.

Shepard just smiled and gripped firmly onto his hand, shaking it happily "It's been a long time, I hope the last two years have been kind to you Anderson."

Anderson just sighed as their combined grip was finally released "There have been a few…rough spots and interesting moments in it, but it's good to have you back amongst the living again." His face becoming briefly sombre "You're absence has been more than noticeable."

A cough came from the side, interrupting their reunion as the Salarian council member got straight to the point. "We've been hearing some…..disturbing rumours surrounding your unexpected return." His voice slightly shaken.

The Asari councillor quickly filled in "We're holding this meeting so you can account for your actions Shepard, we owe this much. After all you did save our lives 2 years ago from Saren and his Geth." Her voice as smooth and calm as it had ever been, the product of centuries in politics no doubt.

Shepard stood at ease, facing the council and looking the Asari dead in the eyes "You mean Sovereign's Geth. The Reaper was in control of them all." He needed to put that misnomer right as fast as he could, hopefully they'd still be willing to listen, but the unsurprising sarcastic tone of the Turian told otherwise.

"Ah yes, 'Reapers'" adding quotation marks, as if his sarcastic tone didn't make his views obvious enough "The immortal race of star ships allegedly waiting in dark space. We've already dismissed those claims." Waving his hand at Shepard and turning towards his fellow councillors, the amused look on his face more than obvious.

Shepard groaned and rolled his eyes, so that's what Garrus had meant by dismissing the reapers. Apparently the machine that had tried to flay them alive was a myth now. He also noted that the Turian had just stepped in through the door, his dark blue armour shining in his periphery. Before he could look over Anderson had turned to face him again.

Shepard could see the same look on his face that he knew was on his, but he Shepard was slightly impressed by how he managed to remain professional. "Shepard." Anderson sighed "No one other than you or your team saw that hologram on Ilos or talked to Sovereign. Only your squad knows the truth. I believe you, but without any other evidence the others" a hint of annoyance in his voice as he talked about his colleagues "believe it was all orchestrated by Saren."

The rest of the conversation with the council went about as well as Shepard could've hoped. All the evidence that could possibly prove Sovereign was anything but a Geth construct was either no longer functioning or not solid enough evidence for them. As if the Geth could seriously create a war ship of that size and wielding enough firepower to almost hold off the entire Arcturus fleet. Clearly the idea of an interstellar cycle of destruction at the hands of such a race was overwhelming. He really couldn't blame them for seeing the alternative, no matter how false it was. Then of course came the uncomfortable position of his alignment with Cerberus.

The non-human council members had nearly been ready to charge him with treason but thanks to a fierce defence from Anderson, the threats quickly turned into compromise. He wasn't sure why but they agreed to reinstate him as a Spectre, and Shepard honestly had to admit he hadn't been expecting that. Of course, he was happy to retake his old role; even if it wasn't really anything more than giving him a reason to stay in the terminus systems.

Finally the meeting came to an end "Good luck with your investigations into the missing colonists Shepard. We hope for a quick resolution…..and a quick end to your ties with Cerberus." Shaking her head slightly as she turned off all of their holograms.

'You and me both' Shepard thought, he kept it to himself; he really didn't need Miranda complaining about his obvious disdain towards the group.

His eyes turned to Anderson as the man let out a deep breath. "Well…that went a lot better than I expected. You realise however their offer is purely symbolic, I don't imagine they'd actually try and help in any capacity." Anderson just sighed, rubbing his forehead briefly before looking back up. "Ok Shepard, I need to hear it. The council is content with just pushing you out into the Terminus but I need to hear it from you. What is going on with you and Cerberus?"

Before Shepard could even begin to tell the same story he had been telling to almost everyone he'd met so far Garrus interrupted. "Is that really necessary? I would've thought the fact I'm even considering following him would be" putting his hands up and backing away slightly when Shepard just motioned it was ok.

"Trust me, I don't like it either Anderson. I really, really don't…but at this point it's the only option I have on the table." He sighed again, no matter how many times he said that he still hated himself for saying it. "Colonies are going missing, hundreds of humans have been abducted and so far the only people doing anything about it are Cerberus….plus they brought me back." He shrugged and sighed again. "Anderson, please believe me when I say if there was any other way I could be investigating those colonies I'd be doing it. But right now this is the only viable option I can see of actually putting an end to this."

Anderson just stood there and sighed before turning around and facing the single marine who was sitting on the table behind him "Well? I believe him, how about you?" chuckling slightly when the only reply he received was a thumbs up. "Ok then, that's all the proof I needed. I'll do what I can to keep the council and Alliance off your back, provided that you stay in the Terminus."

Shepard just stared blankly at Anderson, looking behind him at the marine who just tilted his head. "Is that…is that who I think that is?" pointing towards the marine as he raised an eyebrow at the councilman.

Anderson just looked back and then back at Shepard "Oh you mean my personal lie detector?" laughing when he heard the marine stand up and walk up behind him.

Prodding Anderson's shoulder slightly as his synthesised voice came through the helmet's breathing unit. "You know I hate it when you call me that….David." sighing before looking at Shepard and tilting the visor in such a way that his eyes were briefly visible through the visor. "Thank god you finally figured this out….I hate this damn suit." Reaching up and pulling his helmet off as quickly as he could, throwing it back onto the table behind him. His bright red eyes almost lighting up the room.

"Good to see you again Shepard" Feral spoke, smiling slightly as he dealt with some very conflicting emotions. "You too Garrus, by the way who's your friend?" pointing into thin air before Kasumi took down her cloaking system.

"My…those eyes are as good as they look" she sighed "He is going to ruin my fun if he ends up joining us too." Rubbing her forehead as she stood next to Garrus. Who couldn't help himself, laughing quietly before finally answering Feral.

"Good to see you too Feral, my life has been a lot less messy since we last met." Smiling back between his snickering, wincing when Kasumi elbowed him in his ribs sharply.

Finally Feral looked back towards Shepard and held out his hand "It really is good to see you again Shepard….even if I'm less than pleased with your choice of company."

Shepard took his hand and shook it just as firmly as he had Anderson's. "I know Feral and I am sorry, I don't know how many times I'm going to have to tell this story but I really hope you can believe me when I say I'm not doing this because I like it."

Sighing and laughing slightly "Yeah well…..I really wish I wasn't his personal lie detector" pointing his thumb towards Anderson who'd left the group to their own devices as Udina had showed up. "….god what I'd give to not know you were telling the truth." Groaning as he rubbed his forehead "If you weren't you I would've torn you a new one by now." Growling slightly as he pointed at Shepard before turning around and running his fingers through his hair.

"Believe me I'm still trying to wrap my own head around all of this." Shepard laughed slightly as he reached into his pockets. "I have something that might help you take this all in." gripping the metallic objects before throwing them towards Feral who caught them as he turned around.

Looking into his hand before his eyes widened as he turned them over in his grip, inspecting every aspect of the dog tags he'd just been thrown. "Where did…..how?" his face distorted into one of confusion as he looked back at Shepard.

"Freedom's Progress, she was there looking for a Quarian named Veetor." Shepard just spoke slowly, letting him process everything. "She believed in me enough to give me them and hoped they'd be good enough to help you believe in me too."

Feral just blinked as he looked at the pieces of metal, clenching his fingers quickly around them before looking back up at Shepard. "Did you….?" Waving his fist slightly in front of him.

"Look at the name? No, I'd rather avoid annoying you after last time" smiling as Feral just laughed and pushed the dog tags into one of the pouches on the armours legs. "Honestly though Feral, I wouldn't dream of invading that area of your life again."

Feral smiled and nodded, licking his lips before shaking his head "No, no….hang on, you would've had to have done something pretty significant for Tali to hand those over to you. Even with you being you she wouldn't have just gave these up." Glaring questioningly at Shepard again before his head snapped over to the woman who answered for him.

"He gave Veetor back to her and the Quarians instead of letting us take him to find out what he knows. I'm assuming that would've been enough for her to give up anything that 'valuable'" Miranda huffed, her arms still crossed over as she stood slightly behind Shepard. Her stern look breaking as Feral burst out laughing.

"So wait….let me get this right. You." Pointing at Shepard whilst his grin still decorating his face. "Screwed over Cerberus within the first what?...hour or so?" Snickering even more as Shepard smiled back and shrugged "Oh….oh, you are brilliant, how'd they take it? I bet the Illusive Man pretended to be ok with it."

This was the first time any of them had seen Miranda become so animated, pushing in front of Shepard and stepping in front of Feral. "You think this is funny? We're trying to stop the collectors from abducting any more people and you're making jokes?"

Feral breathed in through his teeth "Ooo, did I strike a nerve Operative Lawson?" noticing her eyes widen slightly "Oh please I've done my homework and of course I know who you are, how's Jacob Taylor by the way? That little incident with the Batarians and the Council was really exciting." Shivering slightly as he squared off in front of Miranda.

"I'll admit, yes. Without the Intel you pulled off that colony, and yes I knew about that as well, we'd be right where we were a week ago. With no leads whatsoever. However…" his grin turning into a frown, his red eyes almost burning "don't act like you're so high and mighty, because the truth is. If these were Turian or Asari colonies, you wouldn't even bat an eyelid would you?" his voice turning into a calm but vicious tone, every sense in his body watching and listening for Miranda's reaction. "No, I didn't think so" grinning as Miranda retreated back behind Shepard.

Garrus stepped up and Miranda's shoulder, whispering into her ear "Piece of advice, the last time I saw this guy angry he beat a krogan to death with his bare hands. Just saying" sneering slightly as he moved away, laughing under his breath. Leaving Miranda glaring at the back of his head while he walked away.

"Moving on…." Shepard quietly spoke as he drew back Feral's attention; trying to remain professional despite the fact watching Miranda getting pushed down a peg or two was greatly enjoyable.

Feral chuckled before finishing for him "Yeah but even have to admit that was fun….ok you wouldn't admit it but…." Pushing his tongue out slightly and raising his eyebrows. "So, is this the moment you try and convince me to come along? Go tooth and nail with a highly advanced enemy with very small chances of survival." Crossing his arms as he waited, his face falling when he saw Shepard's.

Shepard sighed "I have control over the entire mission….unfortunately you, are the one variable that is out of my hands. The Illusive Man believes you are too, unstable to be aboard a ship filled with Cerberus agents." Shrugging but smiling as Feral actually looked like he agreed with the evaluation. "But you can help me in another way." Pulling out a small data-pad and handing it over to Feral, "I was wondering if you could help me find him, considering you know quite a lot."

Feral took the data-pad and started reading it over, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he bit down on his lower lips slightly. Eventually he just sighed and dropped the pad down to his side, his eyes flicking over to Garrus who was holding a hand to his face. "Well I have good news and bad news. Good news is I can put you in contact with the Consultant. Bad news is that you're working for idiots." Finally breaking down and laughing.

Miranda just sighed loudly and moved back to Shepard's side. "What is it now? As if having you degrade me wasn't enough now you're insulting the Illusive Man? Just point us in the Consultant's direction and let us get on with our jobs."

Feral stopped laughing and handing Shepard the data-pad back, slowly walking towards Miranda. "Ok then…I will point you in his direction Miranda." Putting his hands on her shoulders and spinning her around before grabbing her again in his inhumanly strong grip. "There you go" Grinning and slowly stepping back as he left Miranda facing directly at him.

Miranda's face dropped and finally Garrus let out a laugh, before wrapping his palm over his mouth to silence himself. The look on her face was more than priceless as she finally whispered "You're joking…..you…"

Feral just nodded "Mhm, should've….done a bit more research on that. Frankly I'm amazed Garrus managed to keep his mouth shut this whole time" glaring and tilting his head towards the snickering Turian.

Now it was Shepard's turn to glare at Garrus "You knew? This whole time that he was the Consultant…you didn't think I'd need to know that?" looking over at Feral who just shrugged again "Wait when did you two run into each other?"

Garrus answered the commander, having successfully sucked up his amusement "Omega, when I was grouping people together to take on the gangs I gave Feral a call. He said he was busy but eventually we crossed paths anyway. They were fun missions, messy, but a lot of fun." Pointing towards Feral who just rolled his eyes again "As for why I didn't say anything? At first it didn't seem important because I figured we'd be recruiting Feral anyway, but after I heard the Illusive Man said no to Feral and yes to the Consultant? If I had said anything Shepard he would've shot down both of them."

"But now that the Illusive Man gave the Consultant the green light…..we're just following his orders." Shepard broke out into a smile "Meaning that not only do we get a valuable team member, we get…"

"A friend, who happens to be a super soldier with a serious beef against Cerberus…..someone who can help keep you honest." Feral piped up, grinning more and more as the three old friends put the pieces of the puzzle together. "So….the 'Consultant', who could be anyone until Miranda manages to report to the Illusive Man, will have a few requests."

Shepard just put his hand out towards Feral, "I'm sure we can accommodate for anything he needs."

"Shepard you can't do this!" Miranda raised her voice as she watched the situation unfold. "The Illusive Man said that Feral can't be recruited!"

Shepard left his hand lingering in the air and looked over his shoulder. "I'm recruiting the Consultant Miranda, I think you'll find I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do." Turning back towards Feral "So…..anything 'he' needs is his."

Feral laughed and gripped onto Shepard's hand, shaking it again firmly "I think he'll enjoy working for you again more than he suspects he will." Laughing as he glared at Miranda. The truth was he'd been willing to join Shepard regardless the moment he'd heard the truth, but the knowledge that Shepard would fight against Cerberus every step of the way was a wonderful bonus.

"Welcome aboard, I look forward to working with you again." Shepard smiled as they finally released each other's hands "Go and get everything you need and meet us on the docks in the Zakera Ward."

Feral nodded and started heading towards the door "Will do Shepard, might want to let me arrive before she does though. Wouldn't want anyone getting wise to the loop hole we're exploiting." Laughing again as he stepped towards the exit "Come on Archangel, I'm going to need some help with my equipment."

Shepard just watched as the two disappeared from the room, giving quick nods towards Councillor Anderson as they left. He sighed as Anderson began to approach him again, now they'd have time to just catch up between themselves. But before that "Kasumi, watch Miranda. Don't let her send any messages to the Normandy." Stepping away as he and Anderson moved over to the balcony.

"Aye, aye Commander." Kasumi purred as she sat on the desk, playing with the helmet Feral had left behind. Her gaze not once leaving the annoyed Miranda Lawson, who even now was trying to figure out how to resolve this situation.

- 2 hours later, Normandy's communication room –

"So what do you think of the new ship?" Shepard threw the question into the air as Feral strolled into the communication room.

"Well it's bigger that's for sure" Feral looked around the rectangular room, feeling more comfortable after finally removing the one-size-fits-all marine armour and into his own clothing and armour. "As for the crew, you could've warned me that both my favourite pilot and doctor were on board" rolling his eyes slightly as he remembered the small lecture Chakwas had given him about not getting blown up again.

Shepard laughed and sighed as he leant forward "Yeah sorry but, I'm glad they're here and I'm glad you're here too. You and Garrus are going to help keep Cerberus at bay for me."

"and then of course Tali when she's done in Geth space" sighing to himself and mumbling something in a language Shepard couldn't quite make out. Noticing the questioning stare "I was on the Migrant Fleet for around 4 months, figured I might as well learn Khellish" shrugging playfully before looking over to the third wheel in the room.

"Jacob Taylor, it's nice to finally meet you Feral" the man held out a hand towards the super soldier who slowly took it, shaking his hand tentatively.

"Jacob….right…I'll erm…I'll let you know when I decide it's nice to meet any Cerberus operatives." Feral quickly released the grip, stepping back from the table and moving as far from the man as he could "No offence but other than Shepard, Joker, Chakwas and Garrus I have no reason to trust any of you yet."

"What about Mordin?" Shepard looked over to Feral who was looking a little uncomfortable. "and are you ok?"

"I have a small beef about scientists who play around with genetics so I'll let you know about Mordin later on….and yeah I'll be fine." Feral slowly spoke, looking around the entire room, his arms folded as he leant back in a defensive pose. "It's a little strange being on a ship filled with people I've been trying to avoid for a long time, I don't regret coming Shepard believe me but…..I feel like Bruce Banner on the helicarrier…."

The room fell into silence as Jacob and Shepard just looked at each other before looking back at Feral questioningly who's jaw just dropped. "Bruce Banner…..the Hulk…Avengers?..." shaking his head "What…how is it that I know more about classical human movies than an extremist human terrorist cell….oh forget it, I just feel uncomfortable ok?" sighing as he pushed his back further into the wall.

Slowly Jacob started to talk again "Right….well I don't know what we did to you exactly Feral but I know what little there is on the extranet and I am sorry. I wasn't with Cerberus back then and the idea of those experiments gives me chills. I understand if you feel uncomfortable but I hope this doesn't get in the way of us working together" the man just smiled before giving Shepard a salute and walked out of the room.

Feral just watched him walk out before looking down at the floor "Huh….he was…..he was actually telling the truth."

Shepard just smiled and looked back at Feral as he sat on the central table "Well that's Jacob for you, he's a good man just…a little misguided that's all. Trust me Feral I understand completely how you must feel right now and I'm not asking you to like anyone on board this ship. Just…" pausing to collect his thoughts. "…just give some of them a chance, there are good people who just want to stop what's happening out there."

After a few seconds Feral just nodded slowly "I still don't like it Shepard…not one bit but…..I trust you and that's the only reason I'm here so….ok I'll try and contain myself. Just….keep Miranda away from me because…that's bound to end badly" chuckling as Shepard just tilted his head from side to side with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Feral. So anyway Zaeed's room has been remodelled as per your request. Work station, bed and everything. Plus you'll be right next to the engine room if you need to do anything directly in there. If you need anything else don't hesitate to ask either myself or EDI." Shepard pushed himself away from the table and started to walk towards the door, joined by Feral. "I'll come by later to talk to you some more but for now I need you to get settled in and get ready."

"A mission already?" Feral looked over at him as they headed towards the CIC "Who are we picking up?"

Shepard looked back as they stopped just in front of the galaxy map "Someone you'll be able to relate to, the dossier is in your room so look it over. We're going to get Subject Zero" Shepard just watched as Feral looked at him quizzically and then stepped off towards the elevator

"Sounds like fun, I'll prepare a party for the lucky guy" Hitting the elevator door and stepping into it before looking back at Shepard as the commander drew his attention.

"You know how you and Garrus are always saying how I'll drag you both to hell with me?" Shepard stood cross armed as he looked at Feral "Well this time I'm taking you to Purgatory." A smile on his face as the doors slowly closed, the CIC being filled with the sound of Feral laughing before finally the doors hissed shut.

**Authors Note: Hey guys sorry for the delay in recent updates. Exams have been but now they are over and i've been a little busy with playing Mass Effect almost constantly with my new found freedom but some very kind and encouraging words in reviews got me writing again and here is the result :) i will try to update as regularly as i can again but also be aware that i will be going on holiday in a few weeks and i'll be gone for a long time. So that doesn't mean that i won't be writing but it might mean i'm unable to update until i get home. So i only ask for your patience but i really hope you keep enjoying the story! Thank you so much for the kind words and reviews**


	5. Purgatory

Feral was sitting in the cockpit of the Normandy, waiting for their incoming arrival with the prison ship known as Purgatory. Sitting with Joker as he argued with EDI about his idea of work ethics, the AI was another reason to feel a little uncomfortable on this ship. That being said, she seemed friendly enough and even pushed an interest in discussing the areas of his technical expertise when he had time to talk.

Now he was just watching Joker argue with the blinking avatar of the ship's artificial intelligence as he sat in his armour, his rifle slung over his shoulder and a pistol sitting on his hip. His knife still sitting over his right collar bone and a new blade shoved down the side of his left boot, an idea he'd borrowed from Tali. The quarian headdress that he received as a gift from an admiral, currently draped down over the back of his shoulders.

Eventually he heard footsteps coming up from behind him and slowly turned to see no one behind him, smiling as he waited for the figure to step up next to him. "Hello Kasumi" looking over his shoulder and straight into her eyes as her cloak dematerialised.

"Damn it!" Kasumi sighed and huffed playfully, giggling as Joker almost leapt out of his seat when he saw the small Asian woman suddenly appear. "Oh well at least I scared him" she chuckled happily to herself as Feral joined in, the pilot just glaring at them before turning back to EDI as if nothing had happened.

"You might want to be careful about surprising him Kasumi, you scare him bad enough and he'll break just about every bone in his body jumping out of his seat….and well…..he's pretty damn good at what he does." Feral snorted playfully towards Kasumi, who just sighed at yet another source of her entertainment being moderated.

Kasumi eventually stopped huffing and started staring at Feral, tilting her head slightly and leaning in before grabbing the hood draping over the back of his shoulders. "This is Quarian….where did you get this?" the thief kept looking over the patterns of black, gold and small amounts of red swirling and lining the material; ignoring Feral's hand as he tried to swat her off him.

"Hey, hey hands off the merchandise Kasumi" finally Feral spun around and pushed his back into the wall so Kasumi couldn't get at the hood anymore. Laughing as Kasumi pouted slightly "Look it was a gift from a friend and it's grown on me, plus I can use it to hide my face considering my head is a lot smaller than a Quarian helmet."

"So….hood buddies then?" Kasumi just smiled before laughing at the look on Feral's face "Yeah I know, a little creepy. So anyway this friend, was it Tali'Zorah? I heard some rumours from the very many vids around your first adventure that you two were more than just friends" grinning inquisitively as Feral looked down into the down and snorted. "Oh definitely more than friends then." the thief purred out.

Feral sighed and raised an eyebrow "Is this really necessary or do you just need to fulfil your need to pry?"

Kasumi crossed her arms and glared at Feral "I take offence to that Feral" her tone quickly changing back to normal as she smiled "It's true but I still take offence" shrugging playfully as they laughed between themselves.

Ending his laugh with a sigh, licking his lips before finally answering the thief as he noticed her questioning stare didn't cease; waiting for an answer from the super human "No, it wasn't from Tali it was a gift from her dad, Rael. He hates me but after some….rather loud 'discussions' between father and daughter, he finally agreed to admit that I had done a 'wonderful thing for the people' and this was his attempt at thanking me for my efforts." Shrugging again as he sat back and reached his hands back to rub his thumbs against the material. "After I had to leave the fleet….this became a nice way of remembering and eventually I actually started to wear it."

Kasumi just nodded as she listened, clearly satisfied with the answer she immediately jumped to the next question. "Did….Rael know about you and his daughter? Is that why he hated you?" the slight glimmer in her eyes shining brighter as she began to delve deeper into the enigma.

However her hope of being right was ceased as Feral started to laugh "No" shaking his head as the disappointed thief sighed and pouted again, "he hated me for many other reasons but what was between me and his daughter? That wasn't one of them." Grinning playfully at the thief before they both looked over to the footsteps leading up to them.

"Feral, Kasumi." Shepard just smiled and nodded at the two as he moved past them into the cockpit. Interrupting Joker as he argued with the AI"EDI, how long until we arrive?" he was in his full armour with his helmet in one of his hands.

The AI's avatar looked like it turned towards the commander before flashing as it spoke, the feminine voice filling the entire room instead of just around Joker. "ETA to Purgatory is about five minutes Commander, I suggest you and your team enter the airlock now so you can board the moment we dock."

Feral just snickered to himself from behind the commander before he stood up and stretched out again slightly. "Thanks Virgil, we'll let you know once we reach the first terrace." sighing when he was greeted with blank stares from Joker and his team mates. "Oh for the love of god I give up…" sighing as he stepped off into the airlock, muttering something in Khellish as he walked away.

"I believe Feral is referring to Dante's Purgatorio, the second part of his Divine Comedy." EDI chimed in after a few seconds, Shepard and Joker just stared at the console as they both remained lost but Kasumi finally let out an 'Ohhhh'. "It's a poem from the early 14th century written by Dante Alighieri." EDI followed up with as the two men still shook their heads. "…I also give up"

Shepard just laughed "Thank you for trying anyway EDI, regardless could you call Garrus up? I'd like him to join us three on the ship. It's run by the blue suns and I figure an Archangel in Purgatory can only be a good thing" smiling to himself as he walked off into the airlock.

The last words he heard as he rounded the corner and the door shut were "That was a joke EDI…a bad one."

Shepard just smiled to himself as he and his squad were subjected to the hissing noise as the airlock depressurized, EDI's voice ringing out when the cycle finally ended and the doors leading to the docking tube opened up. Shepard just patted Feral on the shoulder and when the man turned he pointed ahead "Lead on Dante" laughing when Feral growled and glared at him before walking out of the airlock.

The group walked up into the main walkway of Purgatory, Feral waiting as Shepard took the lead. The welcoming group visible up ahead and Shepard would have to take care of them. Feral waited for Garrus to catch up and leaned over whispering to the turian. "Blue Suns, figures huh?"

Garrus chuckled as they walked behind Shepard and Kasumi "You have no idea, so far all of the missions Shepard's taken me have involved these clowns. Almost as if he's trying to remind me of how my face got torn up." Pointing to the side of his face that had been subjected to the meat grinder.

Squinting slightly at Garrus Feral just slowly spoke "That's a point I haven't asked yet, what the hell happened to you?" they were starting to catch up to the two ahead of them as the distance between the two groups shortened.

Garrus looked away from Feral, covering up the side of his face "It….it's no big deal I just…..I got closer to an explosion than I would've like." His mandibles twitching as he swallowed nervously.

Feral scoffed "Did you seriously almost try and lie to me?" raising his eyebrow up playfully at the Turian. "So this explosion was…..what exactly? See I remember you being a sniper and people really didn't get that close to you. So what was it?" Garrus just stammered as Feral kept a constant glare at him, his grin never leaving his face as the mercenary hunter with nerves of steel turned into a mumbling wreck.

Finally the silence was broken by Shepard "He took a gunship's missile to the face." Smiling at Garrus who just whined slightly as Feral just shook his head as he stepped away. "What? He would've spent the entire time wondering about it rather than focusing on the mission. Although I guess it answers your question from Noveria at long last." Joining Feral in laughing as they stepped away as Garrus mumbled under his breath, knowing this wouldn't be the last he'd hear of the fact his face was torn apart by irony.

Shepard retook the lead and composed himself as they stepped in front of the Blue Suns mercenaries. One of the guards instantly raising a hand to the group, keeping one on his assault rifle. "Welcome to the Purgatory, Shepard. Your package is being prepped, and you can claim it shortly. As this is a high security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your firearms before we proceed." His well-practiced speech ringing off the metal walls of the ship.

The rest of his team shared incredulous looks between themselves before Shepard simply replied "I can't do that, I don't make a habit of leaving myself defenseless." glaring at the poor Turian at the receiving end of his gaze.

Seconds passed before a voice came from behind the rest of the mercenaries, "Everyone, stand down. Commander, I'm Warden Kuril and, this is my ship." The elder Turian taking his place behind his men before he carried on, tilting his head slightly. "Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must realize that this is just standard procedure."

"We had a situation like this in Port Hanshan didn't we? The blonde biotic." Feral spoke out loud to Shepard and Garrus, smirking playfully as the warden glared down at him. His red eyes looking straight back into Kuril's golden orbs.

Garrus laughed "Yeah I remember…..I recall it ended badly for her." Every member of Shepard's team had their hands tentatively hovering over their weapons, waiting for an excuse.

The hall way stayed silent for a few moments, the air tense as both sides waited for any reason to open fire. The two teams squaring off against each other until finally the Warden spoke again, the irritation evident in his voice. "Let them proceed." He sighed before grinning again "Our facility is more than secure enough to handle four armed guests. We're bringing Jack out of cryo. As soon as the funds clear, you can be on your way. Now, if you'll follow me to Outprocessing for the pickup Commander."

Shepard smirked and nodded "Let's go" looking over his shoulder to make sure his squad dropped their ready-to-strike stances, before he nodded towards the door Kuril had turned towards. The commander stepping off up the stairs as the guards moved out of their way.

Feral and Garrus started to walk after Shepard before Kasumi stopped them; the woman spoke quickly and hushed. "I don't usually get into places through the front door so I don't know how this usually goes but…..was that too easy?" her eyes darting back and forth between the two men who didn't say anything while they just nodded. "Oh, great then." Kasumi just smiled weakly before the three quickly rushed after Shepard and Kuril.

As the team slowly moved through the prison, Shepard talked to Kuril as the rest of his squad hung back slightly. Paying attention to what the warden was saying whilst maintaining distance from the two, Kasumi staying between Feral and Garrus as she voiced her displeasure of being inside a prison. Eventually Kuril and Shepard stopped walking as Shepard began his routine of finding out whatever he could, the commander briefly looking back at Feral who just nodded in return.

Feral sighed and leant back against one of the glass walls, taking in deep breaths as he focused his senses on the warden. Listening for any changes, any slip ups. Anything they could use against him.

Garrus was paying attention to what Kuril was saying as well before Kasumi elbowed him. "Ah!...is this going to become a thing? You elbowing me?" growling slightly at the woman who just stuck her tongue out at him. Sighing and rolling his eyes "You remind me of someone so much, you two will get along so well. Anyway what is it?"

The thief just pointed at Feral "What is he doing?" Kasumi said as she looked around Garrus, the turian looking over at him briefly before turning back.

"Remember what Councilor Anderson said about him being a lie detector machine?" Garrus spoke quietly, they weren't close to the warden but he didn't want him to accidentally overhear this. "To sense lies he needs to focus and so he does that. It's pretty helpful, he managed to pick up some from a crooked merchant on Omega for me once that led to us destroying an Eclipse warehouse."

Kasumi nodded as she turned back and looked at Shepard and Kuril talking "So it's practically impossible to sneak up on him if he's not doing anything too arduous….but then again, he could really help me snoop around the ship" a sly smile appearing on her face again as all the ways she could use Feral's talents.

Snorting slightly as Kasumi openly voiced her intentions Garrus just shrugged "You know considering we're on a Cerberus vessel he'd probably be more than happy to help you with all your 'snooping', plus if you need me to run distraction I know a lot of….very bad jokes I can tell." The two sharing a small smile before they finally stopped whispering between themselves and listened to the rest of the conversation.

Kuril didn't give up a lot on information on Jack himself, simply stating that they'd find out soon enough. However he didn't mind giving a speech on how his facility was doing what was necessary, keeping criminals locked up in a prison that promised no escape. He didn't even disguise the fact the whole thing was a façade for an extortion racket, home worlds paid to keep them locked up or the prisoner was released back onto the planet.

Garrus was silently seething, this man was one of the many reasons he'd gone after the Blue Suns in the first place. Of all their activities however this was probably the most despicable because it was hiding itself under the visage of a prison but in reality it was nothing more than a high class protection service. The whole 'it'd be a shame if your stuff got broken' routine that had featured in so many of the century old movies Kaidan had insisted they watch on the SR-1.

Eventually the Warden had had enough of Shepard's questions, excusing himself to go and check the funds from Cerberus had been cleared. Pointing Shepard down the hall and telling him to go past the interrogation rooms and the supermax wing, the turian walking past the group his feet stomping along the metal walkway as he quickly rushed out of view.

Shepard turned back to face the rest of his squad, Feral slowly peeling one of his hands off from the railing. His hand had clenched a little too tightly around the metal bar at the extortion racket part, he just rubbed his palm gently as he stepped towards Shepard slowly. The commander just looking at Feral, the expression on his face just said 'Well?'

"He definitely wasn't lying about the releasing prisoners at unspecified dates and times part." Growling under his breath slightly as he watched the Warden disappear around the corner "You know I've taken places down for less than this Shepard." Sighing when Shepard shifted into his cross armed stance "I know, I know. Not why we're here. Anyway he wasn't lying about anything but two things did come up."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the red eyed super soldier "And…?" rolling his hand towards him as he waited for Feral to continue.

"Ok so first of all, he is really excited about something. I mean I heard his heart beat when he was first walking in on us out there but…..he's really happy about something. Could just be the massive paycheck from Cerberus but…." Feral shrugged, his senses could rarely connect any dots but at least he got the ball rolling "and secondly, when he mentioned Jack. Shepard we need to be careful because he was terrified of him. He is just like every Turian I've ever met, confident and proud….but when you asked what Jack is like. All that arrogance in his voice just vanished."

"So we have an excited Warden and a very dangerous convict…..why do I get the feeling this won't be simple?" Garrus sighed before Feral patted him on the back.

"Since when has it ever been simple when Shepard is involved?" Laughing as he and the commander started heading down the hallway, followed closely by Kasumi.

Garrus muttered at the back of Feral's head as he followed suite "My life was simple enough until a human being with regenerative abilities rivaling that of a Krogan Battle master showed up in my life." Smiling and laughing slightly when Feral just let out a loud and sarcastic 'Hah!' ahead of him. "Then again my life is definitely more interesting with you two back in it." A small collective laugh was shared between the three old friends as they headed deeper into Purgatory.

The rest of their journey through the ship was as normal as the rest of their visit had been so far, stopping a pair of guards mercilessly beating an unarmed prisoner before Feral tore them apart. It was true that the man probably deserved everything he was getting and more but seven Shepard agreed. That level of violence against an unarmed man in a cell wasn't justice, it wasn't even vengeance; it was purely sport.

Their second encounter was with one of the prisoner's themselves, a man who was all sorts of crazy as he pleaded for them to release him from the ship; that is until he discovered that they were there for Jack. The psychopathic man's fear of Jack only further confirmed Feral's earlier findings; apparently everyone was afraid of this convict. Shepard had to admit however, the more the mystery around Jack was unraveled, the more he realized how important he would become on this mission. The Illusive Man definitely knew how to pick one hell of a team.

The group headed down past the interrogation rooms, heading straight past the curve that led to the supermax wing. The door ahead of them opening up into a big room with a few men in white coats who left the moment the team stepped inside. Feral's eyes following them as they rushed out of the room and out behind them. "They were in a hurry" he said to the rest of his squad as the doors shut.

"Everything ok Feral?" Shepard turned around to look at him, instantly noting the look of concern on his face.

Feral swallowed and took a deep breath "None of this is adding up, those guys leaving? Sure, if Jack is as bad as they say I can imagine they don't want to be here. However…there are no guards in here at all." Shrugging as he pointed towards the door ahead of him. "You three go on ahead, I'm going to stay here. If something is going to happen, it'll happen down there and you'll need an escape route."

Shepard just watched as Feral walked back and leant against the wall off to the side of the door they had just come through. Laughing slightly when Feral shooed them away with one of his hands before he reached back and pulled his hood over his head. "You sure you'll be ok here on your own?"

Feral's grinned lit up underneath his hood, his face was darkened in a way that made him look like Kasumi's partner but his eyes shone through the cloud of black. "Yeah I'm sure, it's not like I've been on my own for the best part of 2 years. Now go on, get Jack and get back here." Giving a small wave to Garrus and Kasumi as they turned around and followed the commander off towards the pickup point.

Feral leant his head back against the wall, crossing his arms as he got comfortable while he watched the rest of his team move away from him. As they got closer and closer to the door he slowly unsheathed the knife on his chest, checking it was sharp by slowly dragging the edge along his palm. Wincing slightly before licking the line of blood of his hand, rubbing the already healed skin with his thumb as he loosely held his knife in his hand. He grasped the knife again tightly when he heard the other door hiss open and a loud voice boom out through the room.

"My apologies, Shepard. You're more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed." Warden Kuril's synthesized voice vibrated around the room. Shepard just looked up at the faceless voice, noticing that Feral was pressing himself up against the opposite wall, his knife firmly in his hand.

Shepard snorted "You talked up your noble intentions with this prison. But in the end you're just another criminal" glaring up at the speakers before the Warden simply shouted back for the prison to activate defense systems.

Ordering his squad to take cover behind the desks in front of them, four mercenaries stormed into the room and immediately rushed forward to take aim at the three ahead of them. The two Turians and one of the human mercs started firing, the hail of gun fire hiding the noise of the fourth member of their squad being attacked by Feral.

The mercenary group had stormed the room and instantly became fixated upon the three armed individuals ahead of them, completely forgetting that there had been four of the enemy onboard the ship. A fatal error for the last member to enter the room as Feral's foot lashed out against his rifle, sending it flying out of his hands. He'd barely had time to react Feral slammed his blade down into the visor of the mercenaries helmet.

As soon as the knife had become embedded into the merc's helmet, Feral pushed him down into the floor and let the door shut behind them. Hitting the holographic panel with his omni-tool, instantly uploading a string of coding that overrode the door's locking mechanisms. The three remaining Blue Suns were now trapped in the room with Shepard and his squad, and they had yet to realize it.

Garrus was laughing behind cover as he peaked up and witnessed what Feral had done, crouching behind the metal desk with his rifle and popping up every so often to take a single well placed shot at the mercenaries. Never taking them down but giving their shields a good work out.

Shepard was doing the same, using the weight of fire his assault rifle could unleash to try and suppress the men. He had to figure out something fast, the three enemies were armed with assault rifles and while his squad was better, the sheer weight of fire was keeping them pinned down. However he had a man behind them, and a woman who could get anywhere without being seen. He knew Feral would move without ever needing an order so he turned around and tapped Kasumi on the shoulder, pulling her close so he could talk without being heard.

The mercenaries were moving tactically across the room, covering each other with suppressing fire whilst the others moved. Now one of them was exposed at the back all by himself and Feral took that opportunity to strike him, the Turian never saw him coming and never realized he was there until his arms were wrapped around his neck. Unfortunately for Feral he wasn't quick enough to prevent him from screaming before the strength of the super soldier almost twisted his head a full 180 degrees.

As the Turian went down screaming the other human spun towards him, raising his rifle and firing straight at Feral who fell to the floor behind the desk using the dead Turian as a shield. The bullets didn't keep heading in Feral's direction as a well-placed rifle shot rang out in the room and pierced the weaker shielding covering the back of the man's helmet.

The last of the Blue Suns could only watch in shock as the rest of his team was downed in seconds, the sneak attack from behind and the high powered rifle slug now embedded in his friends head. He didn't even have an opportunity to shake off his shock when an omni-blade sank into the back of his neck; and as he collapsed to the ground the last image he saw was the slowly dissipating cloak of the woman.

Just as fast as the room had erupted with the sounds of gun fire it was plunged back into silence, the only noises were the faint breathing of Shepard's team until Garrus' voice vibrated through the room. "Spirits, I hate it when he's right." The Turian sighed as he pushed himself up and out of cover, waving back weakly when Feral gave a two fingered salute towards him.

Shepard joined Garrus and the two made their way towards their two hooded companions, Feral was at the door with his omni-tool lit up along his arm. Kasumi was inspecting the first man to have gone down thanks to Feral's ambush. "So that's what a human with Krogan-esque strength looks like…" grunting when she tried to pull the knife out of the merc's helmet. "What is this thing? Excalibur?" looking up at him from her crouched position over the dead Sun.

Feral laughed as he tapped on the door panel, undoing the snap hacking that had locked it. "Yes, because the blade in the brain sounds like such a magical tale." Returning to the door until he patted the metal plating, his omni-tool vanishing. "Whenever we're ready to move, this thing is ready to open Shepard"

"Glad to see you're still very good with computers" Shepard had his rifle resting over his shoulder "Ok listen up, everyone check your weapons and equipment, new thermal clips in, scavenge what you can from these poor bastards and then we're off. Feral and I will take the front, Garrus stay back and at range and Kasumi just do whatever you can to get behind them and cause some chaos." Smiling when he saw a collective of nods, and shaking his head when he saw Kasumi resume trying to remove Feral's knife.

Feral stepped around and crouched down in front of her "Tell you what; you do what you do best. Which is finding things and I'll do one of the things I do best; which is pulling my knife out of people's heads." Letting Kasumi see his elongated canines as he pulled a toothy grin before the woman sighed and started rummaging through the dead merc's belongings as quickly as she could. Whining when she watched Feral slide the knife out, talking to herself under her breath as Feral stood up while wiping the blade along his jeans.

It only took the team a few seconds to scavenge anything, normally they wouldn't have taken the time but seeing as whatever was on the other side of that door had been waiting for them the moment the attack started; a few moments here or there to let them get tense wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Finally they started to move into position, Garrus was at the desk facing the door directly with his rifle; ready for any poor being to be immediately in his scope. Kasumi activated her cloak, giving the team a small wave as the woman disappeared out of any normal creature's vision. Shepard and Feral were on either side of the door, assault rifles at the ready. The moment Feral hit the holographic panel the lock would come undone and it'd fly open, then they'd charge forward hitting everything they could with their bursts whilst moving from cover to cover.

The room grew deathly quiet again as everyone waited for Shepard's go, Feral's hand hovering over the pad with his omni-tool glowing around his fingertips. Shepard held up his hand and slowly started counting down his fingers, mouthing the words until finally he closed his fist and all hell broke loose.

As soon as Feral brushed the panel with his omni-tool, the door's hissed open quickly. An immediate boom coming from Garrus' rifle as he quickly took aim and fired. Judging by the shouts and clumsy return fire, he'd clearly hit his mark. Shepard and Feral both took turns spinning from cover, either putting down suppressing fire on the mercenaries so the other could move or destroying the mechanical dogs bearing down towards them.

Feral and Shepard were quickly pushing up, the accurate shots of both men keeping the other covered as they bolted to the nearest cover. The ever looming threat of Garrus' sniper rifle keeping the merc's in cover as well, however they had missed the slight rush of wind move past them as the cloaked thief moved to the very back of their position. The scream causing the men to bolt around as Kasumi suddenly appeared and took down their rear guard.

The confusion giving the rest of Shepard's team all they needed to finish the fight in the hall way, a concussive shot from Shepard taking out two of the soldiers before sniper and assault rifle fire cut down the remainder. "To supermax, move now!" Shepard shouted out quickly, Feral nodding as he started to run down the hallway. Thanks to the fact the walls were made of glass he could see the way was clear; Kasumi following him closely while Shepard waited for Garrus.

Feral opened the door, his rifle scanning the room as he walked in with Kasumi just to his side. The only occupant was a lone scientist at the control panel directly ahead of them. Feral lowered his rifle and called out to the man "Hey buddy, this is your cue to run away" slowly walking towards him as Kasumi kept an eye on the scientist.

The man looked over his shoulder "Err yeah, yeah I think I will…" he whimpered slightly as he typed a few more times on the pad before taking a deep breath. Feral didn't have time to raise his rifle back up before a single bullet hit him in the shoulder, growling as he collapsed to the floor from the force of the shot. Luckily for him Kasumi had already returned in kind with a single burst into the man's chest.

"I really should've seen that coming" Feral groaned as he slowly pushed himself back up onto his feet, rubbing his shoulder slightly. Walking up to the panel and pushing the body off the console, looking down into the room below. "Well if Jack is anywhere I bet it's there." He pointed down at the elaborate looking cryo storage unit. "That's seriously heavy duty stuff right…..what?" He'd turned around to find Kasumi just looking at his shoulder.

The woman jumped slightly as she realized she'd been caught staring again "Sorry it's just….it's one thing to hear you can heal like that but to actually see it. I mean you just took a shot from a heavy pistol and you act like it was minor inconvenienced." She shrugged playfully "It's very cool though"

"You should see him come back from the dead then, as far as I'm aware it's happened twice now" both of them looked over as Shepard and Garrus finally walked into the room. "And then of course you took the brunt of an explosion in Flux and you were fine within hours, if it weren't for Chakwas keeping you in the med bay you'd have been up much quicker." Shepard patted Feral's shoulder, making the man wince.

"Ow!" Feral growled "Just because it looks healed doesn't mean it's not sore….." sighing as Shepard just laughed slightly "Anyway, it looks like this guy was trying to completely lock down Jack's cryo. Luckily for us, I took a bullet before he could." Feral grinned as he looked down at the cryo tube. "All you have to do is hit that button right there and Jack's free."

Shepard stepped up to the control panel and looked down into the room below, "Well, no time like the present. Let's get Jack back to the Normandy." Hitting the switch and stepping back as the room below whirred into life. Mechanical arms and machines moving in place as the tube was slowly lifted out of the ground. Super cooled air steaming as it hit the normal room temperature, creating a misty effect in the room as finally Jack's pod opened up.

"Jack's a woman?" Feral's voice piped up, stating the fact that they had all been thinking. In all the information Jack's gender had never been disclosed so naturally they just assumed. The group was already surprised but they just watched in shock as Jack ripped open her bonds, snarling loudly as she charged forward underneath the balcony of the room they were on; her hand lit with biotic energy. Explosions suddenly rocking the ship as she disappeared from their sight; an alarm instantly blaring as Jack began her rampage.

Shepard was the first to come out of shock, shouting to the rest of his team as he ran for the door that led down to the room below "Follow her! Now! Go!" the team charging through the door and expecting to walk into a fight they had their weapons at the ready. Instead they ran into a room filled with the destroyed bodies of YMIR mech platforms. Stopping briefly to take in the destruction Shepard overheard Garrus and Feral talking as they started to move on.

"Could you have done this?" Garrus' voice was shaking slightly, either from awe or excitement. Shepard couldn't quite tell with all the background noise, explosions and alarms in the distance.

Feral just let out a small laugh "No I couldn't. I think we've just found the biotic version of me" the super soldier shouted back as he ran past the torn apart shell of a YMIR. The group jumping down, through the hole in the wall created by Jack, as they started to follow the destruction left in the woman's wake.

As they followed the trail of fire and death left by the biotic, they met little resistance. A few mercenaries and a couple of YMIR mechs that Jack had either missed or been too busy to destroy as she ran through Purgatory. The long range effort combined with the up close and personal attacks of the cloaked Kasumi were proving devastating. Shepard and Feral were mainly just running around and drawing people out into the open, or forcing them to stay in cover until Kasumi finished them from behind.

The only real problem they were having were the YMIR mechs, until Feral got close enough. Shepard immediately adopted the tactic of avoiding the machines like the plague until everyone else was dead. Then the rest of the team would act as a diversion so Feral could show off his strength and speed again. Sprinting up behind the mechs before they could react to the alert signals in their motion detectors, leaping up the back of the machine and gripping onto the base of its head. One foot planted firmly onto each of its shoulders as he tore the mechs head off, twisting and tugging until the head popped free of its wiring and mechanics.

The first few rooms had been more or less identical, the colour of the metal being illuminated by the red alert lights and the orange of the nearby fires. Shepard's squad moving as quickly as they could across the large prison courtyards as they tried to keep the distance between them and Jack as minimal as possible.

As the moved into the next room they were greeted by the sound of heavy machine gun fire. Immediately jumping into cover as a few rounds ricocheted of the metal cover, peeking up over the metal plates they saw Warden Kuril; with a revenant and every single shield generator in the room projecting a dome around him. "You're valuable Shepard, I could've sold you and lived like a king" the warden was panting, his voice no longer as strong and as solid as it had been "But you're too much trouble! At least I can recapture Jack!" he raised his machine gun again and forced the squad back down.

"Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader and I really don't have time for this" Shepard shouted back as he pointed at Feral and Kasumi, signaling them to go right while he and Garrus went left. The squad went for any opportunity to move, and with Kuril so intently watching them; not even Kasumi could have slipped away.

"I do the hard things that civil governments are afraid to do! This is for the good of the galaxy!" Kuril shouted again as he raised his rifle and start riddling the cover with constant machine gun fire, Shepard's team just staying as low as they could until the inevitable happened; Kuril had to switch his thermal clip.

"Go, take out the generators!" Shepard shouted as he fired a burst into the generator directly ahead of them. Kuril would be just another mercenary once the high powered shielding was down. He could see Feral and Kasumi darting down the right hand side in his periphery. Quickly sprinting after Garrus as he moved up the path to the left, the Turian immediately taking aim at the next generator with his pistol and destroying it before ducking down from the revenant fire of Warden Kuril. Shepard crouched down next to him, "Ok then, two down and one to go. Let's give him something to think about." Chuckling as he and Garrus waited for the lull in gun fire, before returning the Warden in kind; a few shots breaking through the weakening shielding.

Unluckily for Feral and Kasumi it wasn't just the Warden they had to worry about, there was an entrance bleeding out Blue Suns close by the to the last generator. If Feral could get close enough he could block the door permanently and then they'd be able to handle the smattering of mercenaries in the room. Feral was down on one knee, firing his rifle as much as he could at the Suns; taking out a few of them and making the rest consider whether or not it was worth trying to take a shot.

Kasumi was doing the same but her SMG didn't have the same rate or weight of fire and she didn't want to risk cloaking for a rear attack with the possibility of more coming from behind her. "Got a plan Red?" she panted out, looking up towards the door before looking back to see Feral throw a small chip down at her feet. "That locking code you used earlier?" Smiling when he just nodded while firing his rifle. "Well then, I will be right back" the women noticed Feral's eyes flick to the side as she vanished from sight.

The Blue Suns were hiding down behind cover, formulating a plan of their own. They outnumbered the current enemy position and with more on the way they would soon be able to overrun them. Everything was going to plan until the moment the commander got heard a voice over his radio, "The damn door is jammed! We can't get to you!" panic started to show in his men, this was Shepard and his team they were facing. Normally they'd have enough but the man had shown even an army of Geth couldn't stop him.

Quickly ordering a man to get to the door and get it open as soon as he could, he sat and waited. The rounds of the lone rifleman still bouncing off the cover around him and the few men he had left. That's when he realised that there had been two of them; he looked around the large courtyard trying to see where she could possibly be when a groan came over the radio. Turning around all he saw was the body of the man he'd sent to the door fall to the ground, and a small cylinder rolling towards him. The burst of blinding white light and the deafening boom was the last sensation he and his team ever experienced.

Shepard and Garrus saw and heard the flashbang detonate on the opposite side of the room, both of them heard the gun fight occurring but neither of them were in range to help. They had managed to keep the warden successfully distracted though and seconds after the bang, the final generator went down and Warden Kuril came under fire from both directions. The combined efforts of Shepard's team quickly putting the proud slaver to rest, Garrus finishing off the Turian with a single round to the forehead.

Shepard stood up as he watched Kasumi and Feral sprinting towards the only open doorway left, he guessed it lead up to the walkway above them. Looking up he could see Jack through the glass, heading straight down towards…the Normandy. "Feral!" he shouted across the room towards the man, who briefly stopped and looked over "She's heading to the Normandy! Get there as fast as you can now!" He could only watch the man smile as he sprinted off as fast as he could, disappearing from sight in seconds as his powerful legs carried him away.

"You realise this means we have to catch him up now right?" Garrus sighed as he ran past the commander, Shepard snorting slightly as they both gave chase.

Jack was charging down the walkway, rushing at the two Blue Suns. The only people in her way before the shuttle docks, the chances of finding a ship there was low; but if on the off chance there was one. Today she'd be leaving this dump. Sliding down to her knees as she charged up biotic energy in her fists, ignoring the cries from the guards for her to stop. Using her biotic energy she slammed one into the glass sealing the ship, the other into the pipes; she made sure to use enough force to kill them outright.

Panting as she stood back up she looked up, there was a ship! A brief smile forming on her lips before her face dropped again and she screamed, the insignia on the helm. That damn symbol, it haunted her and here it was again. Growling and screaming to herself as she considered her options. On the one hand Cerberus were here for her, on the other; she could kill them all. Grinning again as she turned back down the pathway, her eyes opening wide as a Batarian ran towards her. Readying her biotics until a bullet whizzed over her shoulder, close enough for her to feel the wind it created on her skin, and into the four eyed bastards head.

Turning around to face the shooter, she tilted her head slightly. All she could see was a man dressed in jeans and a shirt. Armour plates covering a fair portion of the front of his body and a hood over his head. That wasn't what surprised her though, whoever this man was he'd been running after her and he wasn't even panting. His hands were steady on his rifle, the weapon slowly falling down as he withdrew from his firing pose; but his eyes. His eyes never stopped staring at her, watching Jack's every move; those blood red eyes.

The two just stood there, glaring at each other. She moved from side to side while he just stood still, only his eyes moved from side to side as he kept a firm grip on his rifle. Until finally the rest of his crew showed up, another man, a turian and a woman also wearing a hood. Only then did the red eyed man relax and let his rifle completely drop. The other guy stepping forward and before he'd even begun talking, she cut him off.

"What the hell do you want?"


	6. Between Purgatory and Korlus

The team moved back onto the ship, Shepard leading Jack in. The woman's eyes darting around as they waited for the airlock to open. Shepard honestly had to wonder if this was a good idea; Jack seemed to have as much of a beef with Cerberus as Feral did. The only difference being Feral was willing to put that aside for now; Jack may not be so forgiving. Although having one more person on board who hated Cerberus wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Feral, Garrus and Kasumi were standing back, Shepard had told them to let him take care of Jack's induction and they could introduce themselves properly later. Garrus and Feral were talking amongst themselves, and the super soldier was trying to ignore the fact Kasumi was playing with the large hole in his armour and clothing left by the scientist's heavy pistol. Eventually Feral just looked over his shoulder. "I understand the whole inquisitive nature thing but will this happen every time I get perforated?"

"You find me another human being who can get hit dead on with a monster of a pistol like that and be fine in a matter of seconds, I'll happily leave you alone" Kasumi smiled playfully while tracing around the small amount of blood that dripped down the back of his armour. "I'm sure this'll get boring once I start snooping around the ship." Finally stepping away and leaving him alone as Garrus snorted at the look of disdain on Feral's face.

The three stopped talking and shuffled awkwardly when they saw both Jack and Shepard were looking back at them. "Ok, what the fuck?" Jack half shouted openly in the airlock. "Considering this is a Cerberus ship the Turian was weird enough, but now he can take bullets and laugh them off?"

Feral burst out laughing for a few seconds before stopping, letting his face fall into a neutral expression "Yes" giving the woman a toothy grin as she continued to glare at him.

Shepard smiled and turned back to face the doors of the airlock "Wait until you see him take one to the head" the doors of the airlock opening and he started to walk out "I've seen it twice and I still don't believe it." The commander walking out of the room and into the corridor of the Normandy, waiting for Jack to follow him.

The woman looked back at Feral who just tapped his forehead a couple of times before pointing towards the commander. Jack sighed and turned around, following Shepard as Garrus shouted after them. "After you've had the tour I could show you the video!" rolling her eyes as she heard Kasumi begging to see it as well.

"Shepard what have you dragged me into?" Jack growled to the man, who looked at her as they both walked towards the communication room where Miranda and Jacob were both waiting. "They're all giggling idiots." Scoffing as she imagined the hell she'd be put through being around them.

Shepard just laughed as he stopped in the armoury briefly. "Kasumi, I don't know much about yet so I think that's just the way she is. But Garrus and Feral? They've been through hell and it's just a way they cope. Garrus recently lost a whole lot and Feral….let's just say he knows exactly how you feel about Cerberus." Shrugging slightly as he turned towards the door, grunting as Jack gripped his arm and turned him back.

"You have no idea what I feel about Cerberus." Jack growled, glaring daggers into Shepard's eyes. "You have no idea what they did to me" she spat towards him.

Shepard tugged his arm out of her grip, sighing and looking away before finally speaking softly "You're right I don't, but I know what they did to him." Turning around and walking towards the comm room as Jack just stood there for a second. Looking back at the door to the CIC before snorting and walking after the commander.

Feral watched Jack and Shepard disappear around the corner, the smile still on his face until Garrus shouted about the video. Glaring up at the taller alien, he growled slightly "I thought you deleted that video Vakarian, did you at least keep the bit where you screamed like a little girl when I got up?" grinning evilly as he stepped out and headed down the hallway.

The airlock was silent until Kasumi snorted out "You screamed like a little girl?" giggling as she walked out and left Garrus alone in the airlock, her footsteps quickly vanishing. Garrus sighed and rubbed his brow before he started to walk out of the room as well "I am never going to hear the end of this."

Feral had made his way towards the back of the CIC and he was just about to hit the elevator switch that would take him down to the engineering deck when a voice behind him stopped him. "Are you ok? You're bleeding." Yeoman Chamber's voice came from behind him, his hand hovering over the switch before he clenched his fist and turned around.

"I was bleeding, but now I'm not. Just a hole in the armour that I'll fix up" he smiled half-heartedly before turning away again and reaching for the elevator switch but her voice again interrupted him and he turned around.

"Well I guess that's why they call you a Super Soldier huh?" the woman smiled sweetly and Feral just nodded back. "You know as the resident psychiatrist we really should talk some time." Holding her hands behind her back as she kept on smiling at Feral.

Feral watched Garrus walk off to the armoury and mouthed 'help' before turning back to the woman as Garrus waved him off. "Look, we really don't have anything to talk about Ms' Chambers. I'm here, I'm pretty mentally stable and unless anyone tries anything I won't be forced to rip them limb from limb just to make a point."

Kelly took a step back slightly as Feral grew defensive before regaining her composure "Please call me Kelly, and no one will try anything. The crew have all been friendly to me." She smiled again, hoping her happy demeanour would at least ease the tension.

To her slight surprise Feral laughed, but it wasn't a joyous laugh. More like he was laughing in shock and disbelief, eventually he sighed and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "The reason the crew has been nice to you is because you're human Kelly. Now I know I've only been here for a few hours but even I noticed that the crew acknowledge me but most are still ignoring Garrus." Stepping towards Kelly and staring straight into her eyes "Now you seem like a really nice person Kelly so I'm going to tell you this. Cerberus is not to be trusted and I'd happily tear this ship apart if it weren't for Shepard, Garrus, Joker and Chakwas. Good talking to you." He turned around and hit the elevator switch, stepping inside and letting the door shut before Kelly could talk again.

Kelly just sighed and her hands fell to her side, sitting back against her station. "Well, that went well Kelly" she spoke to herself before her eyes darted towards the armoury.

"Trust me it could've gone worse, at least he said you seemed nice." Garrus was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Worse? You think that could've gone worse?" Kelly raised her eyebrows, throwing her hands into the air in front of her. "I was only trying to talk to him and he practically threatened to destroy this place."

Garrus chuckled again "Threatening and doing are two very different things Kelly. Feral's a good guy, we've been through a lot together and he really is one of the few people I consider a friend but…..I barely know anything about him, he doesn't talk about his life before Cerberus much and when he does it's not really that significant." He sighed slightly as he looked at the door to the elevator.

"What did Cerberus do to him?" Kelly asked, half of her wanted to know and half of her knew she was going to regret it.

Garrus stood up and hit the elevator switch "Have you eaten today?"

Kelly stood up and raised an eyebrow "Not since breakfast, no. Why?" stepping up towards Garrus.

"Because it's better to find out on an empty stomach." He smiled and his mandibles flared slightly "Now come on, we'll talk in the forward battery. I don't want anyone else to know."

"What about Feral?" Kelly looked around as if he'd appear right behind her.

Garrus chuckled "Don't worry about him, the things I'm going to tell you are important if you're going to understand him, and it'll tell you why Shepard, Feral and I all would rather watch Cerberus crash and burn." Stepping into the elevator with Kelly and letting the doors shut behind them.

Down in the engineering deck Feral was finally walking into his refurbished room, it was where Zaeed Massani had been staying and while the mercenary was happy with the bare essentials. Feral had decided to tap into Cerberus' funds and resources as much as he could. What he had ended up with was much more akin to the old XO's quarters on the SR-1, and he was sure Cerberus had taken a small liberty and added a few hidden extras; no matter he'd find them all in an hour or so.

Placing his weapons down onto the work surface they'd provided; his assault rifle, pistol and both of his knifes. Peeling off the layers of his armour bit by bit and throwing them down onto the floor, he'd arrange them all later after he'd dealt with the missing piece of his chest piece. Sighing as he placed it down on his bench, silently thanking god for Tali teaching him a more mechanical side of the job.

Once all of his armour was off he sat down on the chair in front of the bench, taking a breath and enjoying the opportunity to finally relax. Rubbing his shoulder gently with his fingers, pushing through the hole and sighing again. "I liked this shirt as well…should've known better than to bring it on one of Shepard's missions." Laughing slightly before he sat forward and switched on his terminal, he'd have to find the schematics for his armour to fix it but after that it'd be easy.

Suddenly a blue light caught Feral's attention, looking to the end of his table. "Hello EDI let me guess, Miranda put a terminal in here?"

The blue avatar of the Normandy's AI flashed as it replied "Correct, she requested that I be given a direct point to observe you at all times."

Feral just blinked before looking back over at his bed "So you'll be watching at all times….well…that's kind of creepy." Breathing deeply before "Just a small request can….can you not watch me sleep because I got a bit used to that when I was a lab rat and…..I'd really rather not tear that terminal out of the wall."

"Of course, while I have been asked to keep an eye on you, I do not want to intrude. I would also prefer that you don't damage the Normandy." EDI spoke back to Feral "I may not feel any pain but I am not capable of repairing myself in the way you can."

Feral chuckled "Did you just try and tell a joke?" pointing at the terminal and sitting back in his chair, crossing one of his legs over the other.

"Joker has requested that I try and 'lighten up' as he put it. He views me as the Normandy personified and doesn't want his ship to be 'so uptight'." EDI spoke again, her vocal patterns almost perfectly matching the peaks and troughs in the sound waves of a real voice.

Feral smiled again and rubbed his chin "Yeah well, take his advice. It'll make everything more pleasant for the rest of us."

There was a brief silence before EDI spoke again "You are worried that I will turn on the crew?"

The question threw Feral slightly off guard; he swore he could hear genuine hurt in the AIs voice. "Not with your shackling in place, you're incapable of breaking your programming. EDI I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that, it's just more fun to talk to someone who is willing to have a bit of fun."

"I know you didn't mean it like that, Joker has been teaching me how to 'mess with peoples heads'." EDI chimed back, the playful nature of the AI becoming fully apparent to Feral as he just blinked at the console.

"Tell Joker he's a dead man will you?" Feral just blankly said to the blue avatar. "Oh and don't be afraid to elaborate a little, mess with his head for me." Grinning playfully as the avatar blinked one last time before disappearing. "…did EDI just wink at me?" he said out loud to himself before shrugging and laughing, turning to his terminal and starting work on finding the schematics for his armour.

Luckily for Feral the plans were easy to find and thanks to Tali's advice and guidance on the Quarian Flotilla, he was able to put the armour back into a useable condition within the hour. Admiring the patchwork condition of the armour plating before he set down the plating again and sat back in his chair. Taking a brief second to check the condition of the Normandy's internal systems, smiling happily to himself when his suspicions were confirmed.

Thanks to EDI the Normandy's systems were in a far better shape than they had ever been, this both meant his job would be a lot easier and that with a bit of tweaking the ship would be running beyond expected capacity. Then, of course, with a direct link to EDI already in the room. The two could work together much more closely to improve the systems even more so. Maybe Miranda had accidentally done him a favour, having an AI would definitely help him work faster. "Thank you ice queen." Pinching his tongue between his teeth as he let his terminal shut off.

Before he even had a chance to stand up EDI's avatar lit up again, "I am sorry if I have disturbed you but Commander Shepard wanted me to inform you the moment you were finished making repairs. We are on our way to Korlus to collect the next member the Illusive Man has provided a dossier for. He wants you to be ready for the call, our ETA is 2 hours, 28 minutes and counting."

Feral just nodded at the avatar "Thank you EDI, just let me know when we're about 30 minutes away" standing up and walking over to his bed, just under 2 hours was plenty of time to catch 40 winks.

"Of course…..oh and Doctor Chakwas would like to see you." EDI followed up, stopping Feral in his tracks.

"Hah….good joke EDI, tell Joker I really am going to kill him." Grinning at the avatar as he kept moving over to his bed.

There was a pause again, the avatar not moving for a few seconds. Feral sat on his bed waiting for it to disappear but then it began talking again. "Doctor Chakwas has requested I play you a voice clip."

"Feral! Get up to the infirmary now! I've just received the mission report for Purgatory and you were shot. Now, I know you are aware of my standard procedure following such an incident. Now super soldier or not I will have you in my medical bay within the next five minutes or I'll be forced to come to you and I'll be sure to run every test I can imagine on you!" Chakwas' voice rang out in the room.

Feral bolted up onto his feet, eyes wide open. "Tell her I'll be there right away." Quickly running out of the room and to the elevator, hitting the switch as fast as he could, hoping the machine would move faster.

Before EDI had even been able to say anything Feral had been out of the door, "So that's why Joker wanted me to record that."

**Author's Note: IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ. Ok so this is probably the shortest chapter I will ever upload in this story however I have a very good reason for doing so. I leave for my month's holiday in a few days and simply do not have the time around life, Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer and of course writing this story do have completed a full Chapter before I leave. SO instead of leaving everyone without an update before I go I decided I would write an intermediary chapter between getting Jack and getting Grunt. So fret not, that next big mission will be coming eventually. Like I said I will be on holiday FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH and I really can't stress that enough. I don't want to see messages asking me if the story is discontinued because I haven't updated in weeks. It will continue and this is definitely not the last chapter. I will write whenever I can during my holidays but please don't expect an update until the end of July. I promise this story will continue updating more regularly after I get back from my hols/vacation. I hope you all understand and I hope you will continue to look forward to the updates. Your kind words and reviews really inspire me to keep on writing. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**


	7. Survive, resist, ignore

"So how did your visit to the good doctor go?" Garrus was looking over his shoulder at Feral, a smirk adorning his face as he kept on calibrating his prized weaponry.

Feral growled as he let his vision glance towards the Turian, his eyes quickly darting back to the data-pad in his hands. His red eyes skimming left to right across the information stored within it. "Karin was a joy. I missed our 'let's run every single test I can think of' sessions." Sighing and waving his hand in the air for effect before he slumped back even more, the super-human occupying the small bed that Garrus was using so he never had to leave the battery.

Laughing as his talons struck the keys; Garrus hit a few more buttons before turning to face Feral. "I may not have it as bad as you, but at least now I can say I know what it's like to have Dr. Karin Chakwas giving me her speech." The two sharing a laugh as Feral briefly looked up at Garrus, before going back to the data-pad. "By the way, have you met Mordin yet?" Garrus threw out to Feral, cocking his head slightly to the side.

Feral raised an eyebrow at Garrus before letting the data-pad drop down between his knees. "Mordin? As in the professor who enjoys performing genetic experiments?..." Cocking his head at the turian. "No I haven't met him yet. I can't imagine why but I might be trying to avoid him for a little while." The super soldier sighed out as he snickered to himself slightly.

Garrus just turned his head back to his console, exhaling noisily. "Fair enough, I get it. That being said, considering you're a tech you may want to consider saying hello to him. If you can get over how fast he talks and thinks, he's pretty interesting…..by our standards anyway." Smiling towards Feral before his eyes widened as a data-pad came flying at his face.

Laughing and grinning as he sat on Garrus' bed, Feral just watched as the sniper fumble the pad in the air before finally getting a hold on it. "I'll think about it Garrus, now as soon as you get a hold of that." Baring his canines in a big toothy grin while Garrus just glared at him. "You should read the dossier of the Krogan we're off to get. And! Guess who we'll probably be fighting through to get to him." Sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees as Feral waited for Garrus to scan the pad.

Feral laughed again when Garrus sighed and let the pad drop down to his thigh. "Seriously? Blue Suns again? I've fought nothing but these bastards since I got off Omega." Throwing the pad back onto his console before he sat back, rubbing his forehead before finding himself smiling from the infectious nature of Feral's grinning.

"I know right? It's almost as if Shepard is trying to annoy you." Feral flicked his eyebrows up as he slumped back onto the cot, grinning at Garrus. The two laughing as the door opened, two pairs of eyes greeting the visitor to Garrus' comfy abode.

"Oh please, I'd find a much more creative way to annoy him." Shepard stepped in and let the door shut behind him. Crossing his eyes and smiling as he leant back against the opposite wall. A triangle formed between the three men. "Besides I'm sure I could find some more angry Batarians with Gunships." Shepard and Feral laughing while Garrus rubbed the sore, mangled side of his face.

"Hah, very funny Shepard." Garrus laughed dryly at his Commander. Shepard calming down but Feral still giggling to himself as he laid back. "So….have you come to visit or just to make Feral laugh at me?" His mandibles flickering outwards in annoyance, mainly at Feral but also at Shepard because he had encouraged him.

Shepard smirked at Garrus "I'm just here to talk about Korlus and how it's going down and I'm sorry, but Garrus I want you to stay behind on this one." Shrugging slightly as he noted both Feral and Garrus looking at him dubiously. "Intel on this place says it's pretty close quarters, no place for a sniper…..yes Feral?" breathing out when he noticed the super soldier had his hand up.

"I know Garrus is more or less just a sniper but he's still damn good with an assault rifle. Plus he and I have the most experience against Blue Suns so… other than the CQB reason, why isn't he coming?" His eyes darting back and forth between Garrus and Shepard.

"Fair enough. The other reason is I now have two squad members I've yet to really take into the field. Now if the stories about Mordin are true, he can handle himself and against a tech heavy group like the Suns it's a great way to make sure. Then there is Jack…." Shepard sighed and rubbed his neck "The truth is I have no idea what to expect from her, so I need to get her into the field."

Feral and Garrus just nodded in silent agreement, they both knew that she was even more of a wildcard than the super soldier had been when he first broke out. "…..so you, the professor and Jack? Sounds like a match made in hell…." Feral just chuckled to himself quietly before Shepard spoke again.

"Oh it won't just be us three. Kasumi is coming along and so are you" Shepard grinned at Feral as the man just looked back blankly. "Like I said, the place is going to be really close quarters. You and Kasumi are the two best CQCs I have. Plus we're going to get a krogan Feral, and in my experience. They only really respond kindly to strength." Walking out before Feral could respond again, leaving the red-eyed man to slump back against the wall again.

Feral just sighed and hit the back of his head against the wall before standing up "Oh this is going to be fun…..guess I am meeting Mordin today….." puffing up his cheeks before breathing out, glaring at Garrus as the turian snickered when he turned back towards his console. "What?"

Garrus' mandibles flared slightly "You plus a Krogan? Mordin isn't the only doctor you're going to end up seeing today….again." The turian gave his version of a smile before he turned back to his console before Feral could retort. Listening to the man mumble under his breath as he walked out of the gunnery suite as he happily went back to calibrating his beloved gun.

As he walked back towards the elevator, Feral muttered to himself in Khellish. Ignoring the odd looks the Cerberus crew members were giving him because that was exactly why he was speaking in another language. He didn't care what they were thinking and he'd really rather not have them over hear his out loud thoughts.

To tell the truth Feral was looking forward to the mission, but that didn't stop him from moaning about it. Blue Suns and a Krogan? This'd probably be the most fun he'd have on the job since he helped Garrus royally piss off every single gang on Omega when he was in town. But what was giving him real cause for anxiety was Mordin and Jack. Shepard had told him that Mordin was more curious than dangerous, and the hyper-active Salarian was relatively harmless, but regardless scientists still sent a chill up his spine. Karin Chakwas was barely an exception to his 'phobia', the only reason he'd visit somewhat willingly was because the woman terrified him.

Jack on the other hand, he had no idea how to approach that whole minefield. When he had been taken he was in his early 20s. Jack on the other hand had a criminal record stretching all the way back into her teens, the horror's he had faced as an adult were one thing. But she had faced them as a child, how young he didn't know. Talking to the psychotic biotic was going to be like treading on eggshells, despite the similarities in their pasts. They were nothing alike, not anymore.

Feral sighed as the door to the elevator opened, the windows looking over the cargo hold waited in front of him before he finally stepped out and into the hall. Heading immediately towards his room at the end of it, reaching forward and hitting the button in the middle of the door with his omni-tool. Hitting the light switch on the door near the wall, before he could fully step into his room a voice from behind stopped him.

"You and me, we need to talk." Jack stood behind him in the middle of the hall, her standard angry look coating her face as she glared into the Feral's red eyes.

The super soldier sighed and let his arms fall to his side and his head tilt back, before slowly turned around and letting the door close behind him. "No we don't….not really". Leaning back against the door, interlocking his fingers and using them as a platform.

Jack's face contorted "That's bullshit and you know it! I don't know a lot about you but I've heard things, we're both Cerberus science projects and we're both on a Cerberus ship. This whole situation is totally jacked up and you think we don't need to talk." Growling as she half-shouted at Feral, the soldier keeping the same calm expression on his face for the duration of her rant.

Finally when she was finished and looked like she was waiting for a response "I just think we shouldn't talk about things I'd really rather these bastards didn't know about. Like you said we're on a Cerberus ship, and trust me when I say this. They are watching and listening…..right now…." Flicking his eyes and head up, looking past Jack and at a certain point in the ceiling.

Jack groaned and clenched her fists. "Let me guess the Illusive Man and his pet bitch the cheerleader? I should just go up there and tear her limb from limb"

Feral laughed, looking down into the cargo bay before looking back at her. "As much as I'd love to help you with that, unfortunately it's not on the cards….yet anyway." Grinning playfully at Jack who just snorted. "The truth is we could tear this place apart if we wanted to….but…we won't, not because of Cerberus; but because of Shepard. I assume he held up his end of the bargain didn't he?" raising an eyebrow as he turned around and opened his door again. "Talk to you later Jack, oh and by the way. You might want to get ready for some action, you've been picked for the team kid." He laughed again as the door to his room shut, leaving Jack standing in the hall.

Glaring at the door for a few seconds before huffing angrily "Asshole" shaking her head as she walked back down into the area of the ship underneath the engine room that she'd declared hers. At least she'd get to go out and cause some mayhem straight away, after so many years on Purgatory she was itching for a fight. And while she'd have loved to have gone straight up and beaten the cheerleader into a messy pulp, Feral had been right about one thing. Shepard had been straight with her, within minutes of settling in a crew member had nervously brought her a box filled with data-pads. All of the ships information on Cerberus for her to pick through at her own discretion. So for now, she'd leave the crew be. God help them if they didn't leave her be though.

- Korlus' Atmosphere –

"How is he that relaxed?" Kasumi was sitting in the Kodiak shuttle as the small craft tore its way through the upper atmosphere. Poking Feral in the seat next to her as he slept locked in his seat, her finger slowly prodding at his arm before she pulled away quickly when he twitched. "Is he really asleep?" looking up at Shepard, the commander standing at the end of the shuttle and holding a bar above his head.

Tilting his head to get a better look at Feral Shepard just snorted, "Probably, compared to the Mako drop the first Normandy put us through…" Losing his balance slightly as the Kodiak rocked hard, making Kasumi and Jack grip tightly onto their restraints "…this thing is pretty much lowering us down not dropping us in."

Jack grunted as another shake of the ship knocked her back in her seat. "Bullshit, this thing is throwing me around and I'm holding on as tightly as I can. How the hell is he managing to sleep?" gritting her teeth as she sat back, noticing the looks she was getting from Shepard and Kasumi "Fuck off, I'm not used to being this unsecured."

Shepard laughed through his teeth "You have to remember Jack, he's only slightly smaller than Jacob Taylor but he's heavier and a lot stronger." Pointing at the man when Jack looked at him blankly "Look at his arm, he's locked it around his restraint. Trust me when I say he's more than strong enough to hold himself steady…..even when asleep. "

Jack sighed and tried locking her arm in the same way Feral had, having to use both arms but finding it did help her steady a little more. "Ok fine, but excuse me for being in prison a lot but what the fuck is a Mako drop?"

Shepard was about to respond but the hyperactive voice of their resident Salarian beat him to it "M35 Mako. Anti-Personal Vehicle used by Alliance Military. Possible to drop the tank and its occupants into any environment. Drop generates large G-Forces. Got to try during time at STG" Mordin breathed in deeply "Very fast, slightly painful…incredibly exhilarating." Smiling to his team mates "Salarians not as robust as humans though, didn't end up adopting the insertion method."

"What he said" Shepard just shrugged as Jack shook her head and sat back into the seat, he wasn't sure what she understood less. All the facts Mordin had rattled out in a few seconds or the fact that Cerberus had decided not to give them the large anti-personal tank with the drop equivalent to an express elevator ride into hell. He sighed as the Kodiak's lights dimmed and the combat lights took their place.

"Ok people we're almost there…." Forgetting that Feral was actually fast asleep and not in fact just pretending so he could ignore everyone else. "Kasumi wake him up will you?" Letting his briefing sit on hold as Kasumi poked the man as hard as she could until finally giving up and pinching his cheek hard, making Feral jolt awake instantly.

"What the fu….I fell asleep didn't I?" noting that the combat lights were lit and everyone was staring at him. "Sorry I was just…..I didn't mean to." Sitting back in his seat and grinning at Shepard until the commander carried on.

"We're about to land on Korlus, we know the Blue Suns are here and we're looking for a Krogan Warlord by the name of Okeer. What we don't know is if Okeer is here by choice. I wouldn't expect any less but expect the Suns to be incredibly hostile. Now Mordin I'm sure you know the drill but this is for you and Jack as the newest members of the drop team. Follow my orders, I'm not going to ask you to do anything you can't do but if I tell you to do something you get it done ok?"

"Just point me towards anyone you need destroying and we'll be fine Shepard." Jack flippantly replied.

"Of course Commander. No trouble from me." Mordin smiled and nodded in his usual way.

"Good" Shepard nodded as he held onto the rail above his head with both hands, the Kodiak being buffered by more and more turbulence as they closed in on the drop zone. "and of course, Feral and Kasumi you know the drill by now."

"Since when was there any doubt Shep?" Kasumi smiled happily as she readjusted her position in her seat.

Feral looked at Shepard blankly "…what? Oh right, yeah, yeah. Jumping, kissing turians. I got it don't worry." Rolling his eyes at the commander before sitting back in his seat and pushing his locking mechanism up, standing up to grab his rifle from the rack over his head. "Now let's go get us a Krogan.

Shepard took a position next to Feral, one hand up on the rail with the other tightly gripping his rifle's grip. The two men standing shoulder to shoulder as they waited for the door to hiss open, the soldiers would be the first out. "You know you're still such a marine at heart." Shepard spoke at the door to Feral.

Feral looked across at Shepard. "What?" looking slightly confused at his face.

"Jumping, kissing Turians? That's a marine mantra….Ashley said it to me the first time I talked to her about following my orders." Shepard kept his eyes on the door, seeing Feral turn back and facing it as well.

The men were silent for a few seconds before Feral chuckled slightly "Yeah well Cerberus may have made me super, but the marines taught me how to kick ass Shepard. There are some things you never forget…..I never leant how to ride a bike though." Shrugging as Shepard starting to laugh as well, their laughs becoming quieter as the engines of the Kodiak started to hum even louder.

"Let's go and put that training to use then Feral" Letting go of the rail and patting Feral's shoulder before they both put their hands on their rifles. The Kodiak's engines humming constantly, the doors seconds from opening. Until finally, those few seconds seeming like an eternity. The door swung up and the ship graveyard of Korlus came into view.

Shepard and Feral instantly leaping out, landing and running to the nearest cover they could find. Putting down area's to watch in case anyone did open fire as the rest of the team unloaded from the Kodiak. Luckily for them, they had either not been seen, or unluckily there would be an ambush up ahead waiting for them. For now though they were in the clear.

Hearing the Kodiak fly off back into the atmos behind them. Feral kept his eyes forward, his rifle trained on the corridor ahead of them as Shepard turned back. Making sure the rest of the team had disembarked, before giving his next orders.

"Ok listen up, we either got lucky and no one saw us or we have an ambush waiting for us up ahead. So Kasumi I want you to cloak and try and get up high, keep in radio contact and don't fire unless fired upon." Kasumi nodded and disappeared from view, the small pattering of the light woman's feet disappearing into the distance as a loud speaker boomed over the valley.

"There is only one measure of success. Kill or be killed. Perfection is your goal." The woman's voice bounced off the derelict ship parts in the valley. Shepard saw Feral turn back to him and mouth 'What the hell?' to which the commander just shrugged.

"Ok it seems the Sun's commander has a bit of a silver tongue. Keep an eye on what she's saying everyone. But back to the plan, we're going to move off assuming we're going to be ambushed. Feral will lead off and I want Jack behind him. He'll take the brunt of the attack at the front so you can concentrate on doing your thing. Mordin you'll be behind her and then I'll take the rear. Everyone got that?" Mordin and Jack nodded at Shepard, before the commander tilted his head to the side. Jack and Mordin moving up to Feral's position before the super soldier stood up and started walking up the corridor.

The group slowly but surely made their way past and through the 'roads' made out of the spaceships that lined the background and directly ahead of them. A massive body of a ship ahead seemed to be their destination and as they got closer they started to hear the pattering of gun shots and explosions. "Shepard are you hearing that?" Feral spoke over his radio, keeping his pace just above a walk.

Shepard looked forward to Feral, the soldier was 20 metres ahead thanks to the spacing he had told them to take. "I hear it Feral. Kasumi can you see anything?" Shepard looked up to the ridge above them, knowing Kasumi was probably looking back down at them.

A few seconds passed before the radio crackled to life and Kasumi's voice whispered through their ear pieces. "Not sure Shep, but the Suns seem to be fighting something. Can't see what it is from here but you do have a small group up ahead of you. Top of a flight of stairs, they aren't looking you're way though. Have fun team."

The radio clicked off and almost if on a cue the loudspeaker started up again. "Being hired is only the beginning. You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building."

"Keep talking you crazy bitch" Jack muttered to herself as she kept up with Feral, who started to move a little bit faster as he reached the corner. The soldier peaking around before turning back, beckoning Jack to close the gap.

"That group Kasumi talked about are right around the corner, maybe 50 metres away and up a ramp. You got anything that can deal with a bunch of idiots standing in each other's personal space?" Feral looked down at the woman as she peaked around him, before coming back and holstering her pistol.

"Oh yeah, I've got the perfect thing for these clowns. Just make sure if they see me they don't get a chance to shoot me." Jack stood back and her arms started to shimmer with blue light as she collected biotic energy. Breathing deeply and growling as she built it up more and more. By the time Shepard and Mordin had joined the group, Jack's arms had vanished in a thick blue aura.

Finally the biotic stepped out around the corner, aiming up her energy in a split second and then releasing it straight towards the group ahead of them. The biotic wave thumping along the floor as it raced towards them, the group only just spotting it before it collided with one of the Suns and exploded. Despite their last moment reactions the energy sent all of them flying in different directions.

If any of those men had survived the huge amount of energy that catapulted them from where they stood, the second wave quickly dealt with them. Both Shepard and Feral had watched the energy race towards them, following it up as quickly as they could just in case. Standing is silent awe at the strength of Jack's attack before regaining their composure and running up the stairs. Rifles up and ready, the only shots they fired were to make sure the mercenaries were dead.

"Bloody hell Shepard" Feral spoke over the radio as the two cleaned up "Her dossier is probably right about the whole most powerful human biotic." Kicking over one of the Suns before shaking his head and walking away "5 guys and so far we're 4 for 4…..where did that last guy go?" Before he could get a reply a small scream came from up ahead, Shepard and Feral immediately running towards it with Jack and Mordin coming up from behind.

Feral couldn't help but stop and laugh and what he saw in front of him. The 5th Sun had attempted to run off and judging by the look on his face, the last thing he expected to find was a small Asian women to appear from nowhere and throw him back onto the ground.

"I believe this is the one you were missing guys." Kasumi smiled happily to herself as she kept the mercs hand and arm twisted up and behind him. "By the Jack, that was incredible. Keep it up and you'll leave nothing for the rest of us….well the boys mainly. They do so love getting their hands dirty."

Shepard was about to get his team to concentrate on the mercenary they had again but the Sun himself brought their attention back to him. "Seriously? You guys kill my friends and leave me bleeding to death and you're joking about it? I'm going to die and this is all fun and games for you?" the Sun was panting and groaning in pain as he lay half slumped on the floor. Falling to the ground when Kasumi released her grip on his hand.

The group of 4 were standing close together as Feral leant in "That wound isn't actually lethal is it? I've been perforated like that and it hurts but that can't kill him right?"

"Very unlikely, if the wound had punctured anything vital he would have bleed to death by now." Mordin whispered back, his voice quieter but still as quick as ever.

Shepard shrugged "Well…he doesn't need to know that does he?" Flicking his eyebrows up quickly as he stepped forward towards the sun.

The Sun looked up at Shepard as he stepped up towards him, Shepard squatting down in front of the man "I knew it wasn't the berserkers, you guys are Alliance aren't you? I knew it! I'm not telling you bastards anything!" The merc spat towards Shepard before groaning and holding the wound in his side.

"You know I do have medi-gel here and I'm sure it'd help a lot but….if you'd rather we just kept on walking." Shepard practically teasing the Sun by waving his omni-tool in front of the man "Of course if we kept on walking we wouldn't want you to be radioing anyone ahead so….what's it going to be?"

The mercenary groaned in pain again before sighing, his voice getting more and more exasperated "Look…I…I don't know anything. I just shoot the overflow from the old Krogan's lab ok? He's really been cleaning up house lately. Jedore hired him to create an army but the Krogan he creates are insane so we use them for practice." Grunting again as he squeezed his side "I don't get paid enough to bleed out in this dump."

Feral and Mordin just blinked at what they both heard. "Did he just say creating an army of Krogan?" Feral had to make sure he'd heard that right, while Shepard dealt with a radio transmission by threatening the Sun again.

Mordin had his hand up by his mouth, rubbing the sides of his face "Yes. Very troubling news. Only one possible reason a Krogan would be creating clones." Taking a deep breath "trying to cure genophage."

Jack barely understood what they were talking about but she recognized the genophage "What? That's insane how can you possibly know that's his goal? Krogan are tough bastards, maybe he is just building an army of them."

"Because Saren tried the same thing, his goal was to create an army of Krogan clones but he convinced a bunch of Warlords to join his cause by promising that it'd end up with a cure." Feral quickly rattled out "Trust me, this can't mean anything good…..plus it means we're going to have to fight through an army of insane Krogan as well as Blue Suns."

"Well thank god I brought you with me Feral." Shepard walked back to the group as the mercenary scuttled past clutching his side that was now coated in medi-gel. "Convinced him to tell the groups ahead that nothing had happened and we weren't here. Threatened to let him bleed out if he didn't." Shepard just smiled before he turned around and walked up to Kasumi, leaving the three behind.

"Strange. Almost sounds like he enjoyed that." Mordin said as he watched Shepard walk away.

Feral walked past and looked back at Jack and Mordin "Yeah well…..you have to learn to enjoy the little things in life….otherwise you end up totally unbalanced." Laughing as he ran off after Kasumi and Shepard, Jack quickly following suite. Mordin contemplating that sentiment for a second before silently agreeing, quickly catching up whilst his thoughts turned back to the Krogan.

The next area the group ran into was littered with Blue Suns, despite the guard radioing on that no one was coming the Suns were clearly not that trusting of their own men. Several squads of mercenaries were waiting for the group up on the walkways. Luckily for Shepard's team though Kasumi was able to make her way back up while cloaked, and that combined with Jack's biotics they were able to force Sun's out of cover. Letting the combined rifles of Shepard and Feral to pick the men off and Mordin's incinerator certainly dealt a blow not only to the Sun's numbers but also their morale.

The war machine of Shepard's squad never let up, slowly pushing forward at a constant rate with the two soldiers providing covering fire for the rest of the squad. Scoring kill shots as the Suns tried and failed to retreat back into better positions. Biotic energy dragging them out of cover for Kasumi or Mordin to finish and with Kasumi almost providing a bird's eye view of the battlefield it made their pushes more tactically sound. The Blue Suns could barely get their suppressive fire near them let alone kill shots.

The fighting was tough but once the Suns were on the run it was just a case of moving from cover to cover, the 'motivational' loudspeaker of Jedore was doing nothing to bolster their ranks. Shepard was happy with the way it was all turning out until Kasumi called back from her forward position that she'd spotted one of the Krogan the merc had told them about, but despite the claim that all the Krogan were insane. This one was fighting off a group of Blue Suns. As soon as that call came through Shepard called for the group to double time, if the Krogan was going to turn on anyone it saw. It'd be better to get there while it was still occupied.

The group entered the clearing and kept their heads down as much as they could, getting into cover as they watched the Krogan and the Suns fight. "So, what? Do we waste them all?" Jack spoke over her radio, whilst she sat behind cover with Feral. The two of them were as close to the Krogan as possible.

A few seconds past before Shepard responded "Negative, take out the Suns but leave the Krogan." The young biotic was taken slightly off guard by the hail of gun fire that erupted the moment Shepard finished his sentence. Mordin and Feral had wasted no time and immediately started to squeeze their triggers, sending rounds towards the Suns in short and sharp bursts. Quickly regaining her composure and glad she started to grab any Sun dumb enough to run for more cover, pulling them up into the air for the rest to pick off.

Thanks to Jack practically creating a shooting range, turning the Sun's into flying targets, the Suns were quickly picked off. Jack was panting slightly as the gun fire died down, leaning forward onto the metal she was behind. She'd be fine once she caught her breath but exerting so much biotic energy in such a short time, especially that very first huge shockwave, had caught up with her as the adrenaline started to wear off.

As he leaped over the cover and started to walk towards the Krogan, Feral turned back briefly to face Jack "Hey Jack" laughing and grinning at her when she gritted her teeth at him, "That was…the most fun I've had killing Suns. Clay pigeon shooting Blue Sun style." Laughing again as he gripped his rifle tightly and walked towards Shepard, who had stepped up to the Krogan.

Feral and Mordin kept their weapons trained at the Krogan as it turned around to face Shepard, who quickly waved his hand down to the floor. The professor and soldier exchanging looks before slowly lowering their weapons, keeping their fingers near the trigger just on the off chance. Kasumi was still sitting up on the walkway and put her pistol down onto the metal floor, sitting over the railing to watch the events below her unfold.

Shepard could feel his team tensing up behind him as the Krogan stepped towards and leant into him, standing as still as he could and letting the Krogan do whatever he wanted to do. He couldn't see what the Krogan was doing behind his helmet but he was sure he heard the sound of sniffing.

Finally it spoke "You…..are different. New. You don't smell of this world. Seven night cycles, and I have felt only the need to kill but you….something makes me speak." Stepping back and eyeing Shepard up as if he was the strangest creature he had ever seen.

"I think I'm going to call that the S-factor" Kasumi chirruped from her seat above the rest of the group, the rest of her face hidden but her Cheshire cat smile gleaming from her hood. "but did he say seven night cycles? As in seven days?" Her feet swinging slowly as she leant forward onto her knees.

Half expecting Mordin to answer Shepard waited half a second before seeing the Salarian was deep in thought "They must be bred full sized and ready to kill. Not that much improvement over mercenaries though if they need to be trained." Shepard shrugged as he looked up at Kasumi. "That being said…..an army of Krogan even an inexperienced one would be one hell of an army."

"Kill? No, I kill because my flesh and bone tell me to. But it is not the reason I was flushed from my tank mother" the Krogan spoke, his tone slightly monotonous. "Survival is what I hear in my head but I failed, even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said, that is why I wait here."

Now Mordin spoke up, clearly he couldn't hold himself back anymore "Failed? Create a cure for the genophage?" The salarian talking almost as fast as he was thinking.

"Cure?" the Krogan shook its head "Cure was never whispered in the water. Survive, resist, ignore."

Feral looked between Mordin and Shepard, ignoring Jack mainly because she was busy playing with a rock she'd found. "So…if it's not about a cure….how did you fail?"

Shrugging as he looked at Feral "I don't know. It was decided before I left tank mother. I was not perfect." Stepping up towards Feral and leaning in again "You are not of this world, nor are you of tank mother. But you smell familiar and your eyes remind me of father's. What are you?"

Feral rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped away from the tank born Krogan. "Erm….long story, way too long for now…..so….can we get back to the whole army for Jedore thing?"

"Jedore….I know that name, it causes anger and laughter. It is not a name that shall be sung when we march" The Krogan once again answered as if reading off a script.

The group quickly exchanged glances with each other, Shepard noting that Jack was looking more and more bored by the second. Time to wrap this up and get moving again, the last thing he wanted was a bored biotic wanted to throw her abilities around a bit. "Can you show us the way to the lab? We need to speak to Okeer."

The Krogan looked up and then pointed into the air with his thumb "The…glass mother is up. Past many more of you fleshy things. I will show you the way." The tank born then immediately pushed past Shepard and the rest of the group, walking up to a piece of the broken ship. Gripping onto either side of the metal and grunting as he picked it up, before throwing it to the side. Revealing a passage into the inside of the derelict vessel.

"Seven days old and already that strong? Cool…..well not really because we need to fight these guys but still…..besides I could've done that." Feral stated, rolling his shoulders and trying to forget that the main reason he'd come along was to deal with a Krogan, not an insane army of them. Stretching slightly as he followed Shepard through the gap in the hull and into the depths of the ship.

Shepard and Kasumi were the last to come through, Kasumi having to jump back down from the walkway and Shepard talked to the Krogan for a bit longer. Feral and his other two squad members were more interested in the path that lay ahead of them, and the dead Blue Sun laying at the entrance.

"Deceased human male, perforation to thorax and pericardium." Mordin breathed in "Appears Krogan have been armed with Graal Spike Throwers. Very dangerous, should proceed with caution." Mordin stood up and carried on inspecting the quick scan he took with his omni-tool while Jack leaned over to Feral.

"The fuck is he talking about? Peri-what?" Jack growled and looked back down at the dead Sun, the hole in his chest was big but that was all she understood from Mordin's babble.

"Hmm?" Feral barely paying attention as he looked on ahead "Oh right, erm. A really big fucking spike flew into his chest and basically made his heart explode. He died more or less instantly….basically don't let one of those things hit you." Feral sighed as Shepard came up and patted him on the shoulder and before he'd even opened his mouth, the super soldier spoke up "I know, I know. Close quarters, Krogan etcetera. I'll take the lead."

Shepard just laughed to himself quietly as Feral talked to himself under his breath as he headed down the slope, breaking into a short jog when the others started to follow. This time Kasumi stayed close to Feral, Jack staying back with Mordin and Shepard so she could provide cover to the two close quarter fighters.

As Shepard followed, not far behind from Feral, he saw him suddenly start to hug the wall and move a lot faster. It wasn't too long before he realised why, there was gun-fire coming from around the corner and it was getting louder. Then he heard the scream call out, "They're loose! They're all damn free, run for your lives!" and then he saw the two mercenaries come around the corner.

The moment they turned the bend they were met by Feral, his fist colliding with the front runner's helmet and instantly knocking him to the ground. The helmet having cracked along the edge where Feral's fist had connected with the material, the loud crack catching the attention of the second man but before he could properly react to the new threat. Feral had barreled down on top of him, kicking him back hard before putting three rounds through the dented chest plate. The two men were on the floor in seconds with Feral finishing the second off and Kasumi making sure the first was dead by putting a few rounds into the merc's chest.

Feral and Kasumi then proceeded around the corner, moving on straight away while the rest trailed. The pair were building up and they clearly wanted to keep the ball rolling by moving on as fast as they could. He smiled slightly when he noted Jack made a comment on the fact Feral probably had turned the first merc's head into paste with a single hit. The moment the rest of the group turned the corner they were met by a Krogan firing a grenade launcher towards Kasumi who was bolted down behind a fallen piece of metal plating.

As soon as the Krogan saw the rest of Shepard's team he began to change his focus to them, luckily they all managed to make a mad dash to any remaining cover. Shouting over the explosions and thumbing return fire his team was putting down. "Where's Feral?!" Shepard screamed across the room at Kasumi who just pointed back towards him.

"He said he'd back in a minute! He said you'd know what that meant!" Shouting back at the top of her voice, shrugging as she tried to keep her head as low as she could.

Shepard groaned and remembered the last time Feral pulled that line back on Virmire. "Everyone stop shooting!" Shepard spoke over his radio this time, he didn't want the Krogan catching on and as long as they kept its attention Feral could make his move. Silently he started counting in his head waiting for the moment the super soldier would strike, ignoring the looks the rest of his team were giving him as they waited. Jack especially was itching, clearly desperate to unleash hell on the Krogan, that being said hopefully she'd enjoy the show.

After a few moments the Krogan stopped firing and from his position in cover he could see it turn and lift its weapon off to the side. But before it could Feral had come flying off from the side, his rifle now strapped to his back; brandishing his blade tightly in his hand. Bringing the knife straight down into the Krogan's helmet, the sharp tip piercing straight into the material thanks to Feral's strength and momentum.

Gripping tightly onto the Krogan's collar, Feral fell down onto the floor bringing the Krogan with him and slamming it into the ground. Quickly pushing the reptile onto it's back before consolidating his initial attack with several rapid but powerful strikes into the crack on the helmet. The tough material shattering under the weight of Feral's fist until finally it gave out completely. Tearing a piece of the helmet off Feral drove his knife straight into the Krogan's eye, panting hard before yanking it out again.

"Now that!...That is how you kill a Krogan." Grinning and laughing back towards his team as he cleaned his knife quickly before sliding it back into his sheath and grabbing his rifle. "Come on then, I here there's an army left." Laughing as Shepard jogged up to him, his typical 'What did I tell you about doing dumb things?' look on his face "What? Oh come on, Jack made her statement earlier and now I'm making mine. I just beat a Krogan to death."

Shepard just rolled his eyes as he ran past with the rest of the squad filing in behind him as they heading deeper into the complex. Jedore apparently wasn't happy with the sudden influx of Krogan in her base as the loudspeaker boomed again through the hollow metal ship.

"Sounds like we're doing this bitch a favour by clearing out the Krogan Shepard!" Jack shouted ahead as they ran through, moving up walkways onto giant platforms as the went deeper and deeper. They ran into a few more Krogan along the way but quickly developed the tactic that the rest of the team would distract while Feral moved into whatever position he could to take down the tank born clones head on.

Jack and Kasumi were the most pivotal in this plane, Mordin and Shepard could definitely piss the Krogan off and keep their attention but Jack and Kasumi could put them off balance. Jack's biotics may not have been able to throw the creatures as hard as the Suns but combined with Kasumi's sneak attacks they could put them off balance. Keeping the entire team safe from harm until Feral's blade or fists arrived, putting the Krogan down for good.

Eventually the team arrived near the edge of the hall and started to make their way deeper into the ship, heading up it's levels. Thankfully, and much to Feral's relief having taken a couple of punches from the Krogan himself, the number of tank born started to dwindle. The large foes replaced by the familiar but still unwelcome sight of more Blue Sun mercenaries.

Thanks to Kasumi's light fingers they had managed to get their hands on one of the mercenaries' radios, Jack of course giving some flippant comment over Mordin and Feral's 'bonding' session as they hacked into the system without setting off any alarms. Shepard just glaring her down as the stream of noise began to fill their short wave radios, letting them know that the Suns up ahead were still dealing with some Krogan.

"Good work you three, now if the outside was anything to go on we have a lot of stairs to climb…that should keep you happy Feral." Shepard gave Feral a small smile, to which the super soldier gave a very pathetic laugh before growling at the commander. "Let's get moving, up we go people." Shepard lead the way this time, Feral could bring up the rear this time with the three lighter combatants placed between the two life time soldiers.

The team kept moving, the ship seemingly stretching on forever as they moved deeper and deeper through the hollowed out craft. Occasionally coming across pockets of Blue Sun resistance, the mercenaries seemed to be tired by their fights with the Krogan. Bodies littering the halls and stair wells as they moved on, closing the distance on the position Okeer was supposed.

Jack was enjoying herself more and more, the close quarters and environment letting her use her biotics to the utmost potential. Flinging mercenaries off the side of platforms and letting them plummet down onto the bed of debris that lay at the bottom, even if they did survive they wouldn't be a problem for the rest of the mission. She and Feral had even started playing a small game between themselves, Jack would pull Suns as hard as she could straight towards her and Feral would punch them in mid-air, some would go flying off the edge but most would collide with steel walls. Adorning the already damaged ship with even more dents, the two former experiments clearly enjoying the abilities fate had handed them.

Watching the two high five as they ran on ahead slightly, Mordin voicing his observations "Both incredibly powerful, very dangerous. Enjoy killing. Worrying behaviour. Should be careful around them." Shrugging as Shepard just tilted his head to one side with a small smile on his face before running off after the two.

Kasumi patting the professor on the shoulder and tugging him only slightly as they both went to try and catch up to the two over powered specialists. "That's just his way of saying, at least they aren't attacking us Prof. So as long as it's not us, I say batter up." Grinning happily as the three moved to catch up with the two rampaging squad members.

Once again the group started moving on throughout the ship, cutting a swath through the Blue Sun's defenses. The team taking turns in the lead position, almost moving around in a giant circle as they kept pushing forward. The Blue Suns were barely prepared for the Krogans to get loose, how on earth were they supposed to be prepared for the combined might of Shepard and his team? Two Cerberus-born super soldiers, a master thief, a member of the Salarian STG and Commander Shepard. A barely raised Krogan army was practically a warm-up routine.

Pushing on further into the ship, they could hear Jedore screaming orders over her p.a. system. Asking for a reason why five people were tearing through her private army, shouting at Okeer for releasing the Krogan. Jedore's rants turning more and more infuriated as the team got closer to their goal. The only thing that seemed to slow down Shepard's squad was the door to Okeer's lab itself, Shepard was about to get Feral to work on getting it open when Mordin stepped forward and took his place.

"Please. Both Jack and Feral have had a chance to showcase their abilities. My turn." Smiling as he stepped to the door and began tapping at his omni-tool. Feral letting his own curiosity take the better of him, watching Mordin work through the programming.

"That's some serious software for a door that looks like its rusting away." Feral flicked the door as he watched line after line of programming run down the omni-tool.

"Agreed. Only one reason for such precautions. Okeer has something worth protecting." Tapping away at the holographic computer on his arm. "Let's go see what it is." The display on the door turning green before Feral tapped it, the door hissing open and revealing Okeer's lab. Several huge tubes lining along the sides of the room with the large Krogan Warlord at his own terminal. "After you Commander." Mordin stepped to one side and Feral followed suite.

"Yeah after you Shepard…good luck with the large, possibly furious Krogan." Feral grinned happily as Shepard rolled his eyes at the two, Mordin he was sure was just being polite but even so he did look very happy to let the commander go first.

The group slowly walked into the lab, keeping their weapons half raised as they fanned out. Occupying as much space in the lab as possible whilst Shepard moved up towards Okeer. "About time, the batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs." The huge Krogan kept working at his computer, not even turning around to face Shepard.

The commander turning around to look accusingly at Feral and Jack, who both just shrugged and high fived again. Sighing as he knew that neither of them would feel bad for toying with the Suns, he was always sure that Garrus would whine a little and demand to be included in the next mission so he could join in. Regardless there were more pressing matters at hand. "So you must be Okeer, you don't seem to be caged or that happy to see me." Crossing his arms as he stood up to the Warlord in his own way.

"You may aim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change." Turning around finally to face the Commander, taking note of Shepard's expression "Surprised? All Krogan should know of you and your actions on Virmire, or has death left holes in your memory?"

Moving slightly uncomfortably, unsure of which way Okeer was taking the destruction of the lab on Virmire, he decided to play it safe. "I didn't have any room for finesse. If there had been another solution you can be sure I would've taken it."

Raising his hands to show he meant no harm with his statement. "But I approve. Saren's horde were not true Krogan. Numbers alone mean nothing. The mistake of an outsider, the same mistake these mercenaries are making." Turning back towards the window that overlooked the rest of the tanks, at least a hundred or so pods that looked like they were still carrying Krogan. "I gave their leader my rejects for her army. But she grows impatient. It is time for you to take me from this place."

"Will help in any way possible. But true purpose of our mission is the collectors. Need your help." Mordin chimed, trying to keep Okeer on track. The slightly mad Warlord was spouting out a clearly well planned out speech.

"I see. Yes, collector attacks have increased. A human concern though. My focus has been elsewhere." The Krogan walking up to the pod directly adjacent to his computer terminal. "I acquired the knowledge to create a pure soldier. With that, I will inflict the greatest insult upon the genophage that an enemy can endure. To be ignored."

That caught Feral's attention, picking his head up and speaking out loud "Survive, resist, ignore. That was what the tank born said on our way in. You really aren't trying to cure the genophage. You're going to make it redundant by creating an army of Krogan, pure Krogan." Looking at the tank with Okeer's creation, shaking his head slightly before everyone looked up at the tannoy.

"Attention! I have tracked the krogan release. Okeer of course." Jedore scoffed down the microphone. "I'm calling a 'blank slate' on this project. Gas the commandoes and flush the tanks. We'll start over from Okeer's data." The room suddenly began to hiss, a white cloud started to form as valves opened. Shepard's squad raising their weapons as they waited for orders.

Okeer, fuming, punched the glass between him and the room filled with his rejects. "She's that weak willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve? Shepard. If you want information on the Collectors, stop her. She'll to access contaminants in the storage bay."

"Or we could just go right now, we can replicate this experiment later on. Why stay?" Shepard countered as the hissing got louder and louder, his team getting more and more twitchy as they waited.

Okeer sighed and started to hit buttons along the side of the tank. "This one is pure. It involved as much trial as data. Starting over will not duplicate it. This must survive. Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. I will stay here and do what must be done."

Shepard quickly looked over at Mordin, wanting conformation for Okeer's theory. The Salarian simply nodded after a few seconds but didn't voice his reasons, they could wait but right now they had someone to take care of. "Ok move out, down into that bay. We've got a Sun to kill." Shepard shouted over the hissing, his team immediately reacting and rushing towards the other door, heading down the stair and into the bay as fast as possible.

The squad had to dive for cover the moment they entered the bay, somehow Jedore had hidden away a LOKI mech and it had fired a missile straight at the door as Shepard had burst in. Luckily the explosion mainly caused more damage to the ship than anyone else. Feral took a few burns to his arms but everyone else's shields held strong. Jedore herself was at the other side of the room and started to open fire on the squad, forcing them all into cover.

Shepard was thinking as fast as he could, so far he had a LOKI and a heavily armed Blue Suns leader attacking him. Plus it was only a matter of time before she realised that there were Krogan still in those tanks. "Feral! You need to take out that LOKI! Same as Purgatory! We'll keep their attention fixed on us." Shepard shouted across the room and over the sound of machine gun fire and explosions to Feral. The super soldier instantly reacting and scuttling from cover to cover before disappearing from his sight.

Unfortunatly for Shepard, Jedore had gotten her act together far too quickly than he would've liked. All of a sudden a couple of tanks had hissed open and fully grown, heavily armed Krogan soldiers leaped out. "Oh fantastic.." Shepard groaned "Kasumi, you need to get to Jedore and take her out from behind. Mordin you and I will knock her shields out so she can get a hit. Jack! Slow those Krogan down!" again as if on a cue, Kasumi vanished from sight and Jack immediately started trying to push the Krogan back for as long as possible with her biotics.

Shepard and Mordin were trying their best to shoot at Jedore, struggling as the LOKI kept shooting its weapons towards the main group. Luckily for them though Feral had moved quickly and before the machines programming could react, the super soldier had climbed up onto it's shoulders and torn its head off; throwing the metal object down at one of the Krogan and knocking it down onto the floor.

The LOKI was down, now to concentrate on Jedore before the group could take on the two Krogan Jack was succeeding to slow down for now. Now with Feral joining in on the attack to take out her shields, Mordin was able to work much more effectively. The two techs working as fast as they could to drain or disable Jedore's shielding and before too long the woman's systems powered down.

Ducking down behind cover Jedore thought she was safe, at least from here she could release a few more Krogan. In her half panicked state she had missed the shimmer move across the room, the tiny sound of feet barely registering over the sound of her own heart beat in her head. When she did finally notice it though, the last thing she heard was a small Asian woman whisper "I'm sorry." Kasumi's cloak dissipated as she squeezed the trigger of her pistol twice, both rounds passing straight through whatever protection Jedore had left. The Blue Suns were down, now they only had the Krogan to deal with.

The two reptiles were getting closer and closer to Jack, the biotic doing her very best to push them back. The Krogan had dropped their shoulders down, using their weight and strength to their advantage and overcoming the force of her biotics. Thankfully the full force of Shepard and Feral's concussive rounds flew into their chests, followed by bursts of assault rifle fire. The rounds bouncing off their shielding but it gave Jack time to move back and into cover.

One of the Krogan eventually went down in a blaze of flames as Mordin sent an incineration straight at it. Watching its tank brother go down in a ball of flames the remaining warrior raised his weapon and fired a single spike straight at the group. Aiming at the nearest human with a rifle and hitting his mark, the spike hitting the red eyed one in the shoulder and knocking him down. With a smile on its face it watched as a blue covered fist collided with the side of its head, the biotic energy exploding from Jack's fist. Killing the reptile instantly and leaving Jack panting next to its body.

"He ok?" Jack grunted as she stood back up to her feet, shaking her hand as even with the biotic aura surrounding it. Punching a fully grown and armoured krogan in the head hurt. Looking over as Shepard and Mordin picked Feral up onto his feet.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Seriously though…always fucking me." Feral groaned as he poked around the spike that sat just below his collar bone. "I got it, don't worry. You lot get going, let's get Okeer and get the fuck off this planet." Grunting as he gripped onto the spike as best as he could, slowly pulling it out. Taking a few seconds to ease it out before stopping to catch his breath.

Shepard nodded and nodded back towards the door. "Kasumi, keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't bleed out. Jack and Mordin, back to Okeer." The Asian woman stood back and watched Feral as he pulled the spike out, wincing as she watched the huge metal object seemingly last forever.

Shepard stopped in his tracks when EDI's voice rang through his radio "Alarms in the lab. Coinciding with a systems failure. The remaining systems are unprotected and I have gained limited access. According to lab scanners Okeer's life signs are rapidly dropping. I recommend haste." He quickly looked at Jack and Mordin and with urgency he waved his hand forward hard, breaking into a sprint. The two following him quickly from behind. Feral and Kasumi eventually following suite when he'd finally worked the spike out of his body and convinced Kasumi that it wasn't a good souvenir.

The thief and the soldier entered the lab to find Okeer slumped down on the floor and Mordin inspecting him, from the look on the Salarians face they had been too late. Shepard was however looking up at the screen, playing Okeer's last message. Kasumi went over to Jack, not really wanting to get involved and seeing as the biotic didn't care she would just enjoy the company.

Feral walked up to Shepard, rolling his shoulder to keep the regenerating muscles moving and relaxed. "So no Okeer then…..what now?" he sighed slightly, groaning a little as he rubbed the hole in his shirt and armour.

Shepard shrugged and then pointed at the tank "Okeer's legacy, a pure Krogan. Guess he wants us to take it along….so no Warlord but still a Krogan." Looking over at Feral who was just staring up in slight awe at the creature.

"Shepard….of all the Krogan we've met. Wrex was the most terrifying." Feral sighed and laughed slightly "But if this thing is perfect….and I assume that means more pure than any other Krogan….what the hell are we getting ourselves into?"

Shepard just began laughing "Hey, it's not the first 'super soldier' I've rescued from a base in the middle of nowhere. Look how that turned out the first time." Smiling at Feral who just rolled his eyes and smiled back. "What could possibly go wrong?"

**Authors Note: Hey guys! So first and foremost, I AM BACK! I am back and I can't apologize enough for the lack of updates recently. Now I know I said last time I was going on holiday for a month and then to expect an update in the last week of July. Well I know it's now August and I am very sorry but life caught up with me slightly and writing hasn't been so much of a priority. Just to give you the brief run down, the first week I was back I was horrendously jetlagged and barely slept at all for 7-8 days. This meant I really wasn't in the mood to write much and unfortunately I am one of those people who have to want to write so yh ^^;; then in the second week my dog of 13 years (I'm 20 and I've had him his entire life) had a stroke and he's improved now and he's much better but at the time it was very scary and really shocked me and my family. So I am sorry but for two weeks I really had no motivation to write BUT! Now the motivation is back and here is your next chapter :3 I'm sorry it took so long to write but as promised it is a longer chapter and 10,000 words takes time :P but I promise I will strive to return to a more regular update schedule :3 just please be aware that my life sometimes takes precedence but I do love this story and I will keep writing whenever I can :3 So I hope you still enjoy this chapter and you continue to enjoy the chapters I write in the future. You're kind words help keep me motivated so much SO PLEASE ENJOY! **


	8. Saving Horizon

"I can't believe you kept that Kasumi." Feral rolled the sharp spike around in his palm. "I mean I know you like to….procure items of worth but this is just a piece of metal." Shaking his head as he placed it back down onto her desk, he'd been checked up by Dr Chakwas but Shepard had wanted them to stay off the engineering deck while he talked to the Krogan. "Have you seen him yet? I caught a brief glimpse when Shepard gave him a quick tour."

"I saw him when I was coming back down from the armoury, kept my distance though. He's a really big fella, might even give you a run for your money." The thief's grin visible through the shadow of her hood as she sat on her sofa, flipping through the pages of one of her books. "What I don't understand is why Shepard is asking to stay combat ready."

Feral shrugged, the hole in the shoulder of his armour still present. "Dunno, something about the Illusive Man having a 'priority alert' for us or something." Tapping his ear when Kasumi looked up at him. "Miranda speaks way too loudly even when she whispers…..hard to believe she's a spy…"

Kasumi laughed quietly, turning the page of her book. "Yes well some people wear tight suits because it's to keep us hidden, and some people wear tight suits to leave nothing to the imagination." Pausing as she evidently got to a good part of the story, the thief becoming engrossed in the book before carrying on "So anyway a priority alert? That's not good for us is it?"

"Since when is anything we do good for us?" Garrus chimed from the bar in the corner of Kasumi's room.

Feral just blinked at Garrus before turning back to Kasumi "Doesn't that get annoying…..people just coming in to drink? Oh and" pointing at Garrus "That one time on Omega where we raided the Blue Sun HQ and found their entire weapons cache." Grinning at the Turian who just chuckled.

"That was one big explosion…"pausing as he reminisced. "…damn I loved that sniper rifle." Garrus took a sip from his glass before sighing as he put it back down. "I'd ask for a toast but I know you don't drink."

"Ok first of all, most people don't come in here because they don't want to get drunk around me." Kasumi smiled playfully "The only people who do are him and Jack because they don't care." Shrugging and waving at Garrus who just held up his glass again. "Secondly…you don't drink?...like ever?" putting her book down and sitting up, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Not much point really, I can't get drunk anymore." Grinning while twirling the spike around on the desk, "Something else Cerberus ruined for me I guess"

"Don't forget about what happened in Flux Feral, we both know that's what really stopped you drinking." Garrus laughed from the bar.

Sighing and rubbing the back of his neck as Kasumi waited impatiently for the explanation. "My drink was poisoned, it nearly killed me and then a Cerberus suicide bomber tried to blow me up and took a significant part of Flux along with most of my chest….." shrugging as he quickly finished his spiel.

"Huh…I always wondered what that explosion was about, oh well I never really liked that place. Too bright." Picking up her book again and licking her thumb before sliding the next page over. "Though I have to admit I wasn't expecting you to have been blown up, I was thinking more along the lines of a one night stand that ended horribly."

Garrus laughed from his seat at the bar, putting the bottle back onto the shelf behind him "Who do you think he is? I've never seen him flirt intentionally and we've been to plenty of seedy places." Feral just nodded in agreement before shrugging and grinning at her.

Kasumi was about to respond but was beaten to the synthetic sound of EDI chiming through the ship. "All members of the ground team report to the debriefing room. We've received word of a Collector attack on the colony world of Horizon. We are moving to intercept."

Feral and Garrus immediately stood up and started to pick up their belongings, getting ready to head up as fast as they could. Kasumi just sighed "Always when I'm getting to the good parts….always." Rolling her eyes as she placed the book down on her bed, pushing herself up off the couch and following the two men out of the room.

Slowly but surely Shepard's entire team filtered into the debriefing room. When the three arrived Miranda and Jacob were already there with Shepard, the Krogan standing behind Shepard with its arms crossed. The commander staying quiet as he waited for the final few members to join them and before too long Mordin and Jack both eventually followed suite. The biotic flipping off Miranda when the Cerberus agent glared at her, obviously irritated at her tardiness.

Shepard ignored it though, he was just thankful Jack was in the same room as Miranda and neither of them were missing limbs. Letting everyone settle down he began, letting his training take over. "Alright so this is what we have." Hitting a button on the table in front of him and bringing up a holographic image of a colony. "We've received word that this colony on Horizon is currently under attack by the Collectors, we were on route the moment we got back from Korlus and we'll be arriving in about 30 minutes."

Highlighting a specific area on the map "Every single one of us will be landing but I'm going to split us up into two groups. Mordin has assured me that the countermeasure he's designed will work, but we'll be splitting up into teams of 4. I'll lead the first squad and we'll be hitting straight down the middle of the colony, and I want Jack, Miranda, Jacob and Grunt…" pointing to the Krogan behind him. "…With me." Pausing to watch the group nod in agreement, even if Jack was glaring daggers at Miranda as she did.

"The second team will be the rest of you. You're going keeping to the sides of the compound. We'll be drawing them towards us so you'll be scouting out ahead but I don't want you to avoid them. If you get the opportunity to rescue people I want you to take it. Garrus you're in charge, you know how I get things down so just keep it simple."

"Commander, shouldn't Jacob or I be leading the second team? We both have much more experience leading people into combat." Miranda pushed in, cutting Garrus off before could say anything. "Plus we know what happened to Garrus' team on Omega."

Noting the look on Garrus' face and the fact his talons were clenching shut Shepard quickly spoke up "First of all Miranda, Garrus is more than qualified to lead a team especially one consisting of an old friend. Secondly, there's no way I'm going to put you in charge of that team now because if Garrus doesn't, Feral will probably kill you for that. So I'm doing you a favour by keeping you in my team." Shepard looked blankly at the Cerberus spy who glanced over at Feral and Garrus, swallowing nervously at the sight of both men ignoring her with fire in their eyes.

"So to round off, team one will be heading down the middle and we'll taking most of the heat but we can handle it. Three biotics should make short work of them as we push into the colony. Team two you'll stick to the edges and move as fast as you can, try to save as many as possible and take the Collectors off guard. If we need to rendezvous I'll call over the radio and Feral, I want you to try and keep the signal as clean as you can. Work with Mordin if you have to. Any questions?" Shepard finished off quickly.

Feral looked around before slightly raising his hand into the air "Erm….yeah. Where did we get this intel from?" Shrugging and looking around a bit more "I mean if there's a Collector attack we need to get there but…..how the hell do we know about this?"

"Other than the Illusive Man giving me this intel…..I don't know how he got it thought. It looks like the intel is good though." Shepard just replied the best he could; he hadn't asked how the Illusive Man had gotten it because he probably didn't want to know.

"Just saying, seems odd that we have the warning this time, and then why Horizon? It's just a farming colony there's nothing special…" blinking a few times before carrying on "…there…..sorry just….thought I remembered something but it's nothing. Sorry" Feral just waved his hand dismissively.

"To be fair Feral there was nothing special about Freedom's Progress either, we have no reason to believe this is anything but just another attack." Miranda quickly stated.

"However Feral raises a good point. Collectors have never made a mistake, never revealed themselves. Why now? Why there?" Mordin quickly rattled out his thoughts. "Suspicious."

"It doesn't matter, we can question motives or suspicions later." Shepard quickly took back control of the situation, he had his suspicions too but right now they had a colony to save. "We have a job to do and people to save. So go and finish getting ready. Meet me in down in the cargo bay in 15 minutes." Looking at the group to make sure they understood fully. "Get going, we have a job to do." Breathing out gently as he watched everyone file out of the room, the doors closing as Jacob led Grunt towards the armoury to get him outfitted. Speaking out loud in the empty room, "Let's hope we get there in time to save some of them."

- The Colony of Horizon –

The Kodiak shuttle was skimming over the plains of the planet as it quickly made its way to the primary drop zone, flying at a low height to try and avoid any sort of detection. The shuttle was filled with every member of Shepard's squad but the four members of the scouting team were standing in front of one of the doors.

"Ok listen up scout group!" Shepard shouted over the rattling of the engines of the Kodiak, "We're going to perform a moving drop just outside of the perimeter! You'll have to romp it the rest of the way but no one should see you coming. We'll circle around the colony and then land, that'll give you time to get into position." Looking up and around the inside of the shuttle as the engines slowly got quieter. "Ok that's it, we're slowing down but we won't stop. Good luck guys and stay in contact!" Reaching up and grabbing onto the railing above him as the shuttle doors opened, the green fields of Horizon moving along beside the open door.

Shepard just watched the four, one by one, jump out of the shuttle one by one, leaning out of the Kodiak to see if they all had landed without incident. Luckily Shepard only had to laugh as he heard Feral shout about how much he hated rolling drops, shaking his head as he gripped onto the door and pulled it down, locking it back in place.

"Commander, I understand why you chose Garrus, Kasumi and Mordin for the scouting group but I have to ask…..why Feral?" Jacob spoke, his voice slowly getting louder as the shuttle picked up speed once more. "He doesn't strike me as particularly….quiet…"

Shepard just smiled, remembering the incident with Ashley back on the SR-1. "He has a certain flair to him I'll admit but trust me he can be quiet when he wants to be…..he just doesn't want to be that often." The commander looking over at Grunt sitting in a seat that had been specially retrofitted.

The Krogan was laughing to himself "Sounds like my kind of human. Let's hope he doesn't die before I get a chance to fight him myself." Grunt's mind clearly focused on all the ways he could possible think of destroying the man.

"Oi!" The radio buzzed into life and the slightly static voice of Feral came over the radio "I heard that you over grown reptile…..oh and by the way I've gotten the radio signal figured out, just lock your omni-tools to this transmission." The sound of breathing coming over the radio slightly as everyone in the shuttle lit up their omni-tools.

Miranda started to tap at her own omni-tool before staring at her holographic tool. "Feral how did you set up a secure radio signal while running?" Glaring slightly at the noise emanating from the tool.

Her glare was met by Feral laughing through the radio "Miranda despite what you think about me I am much smarter than I look, and this isn't the first time I've done this on the run….so….you're welcome. Stop complaining and enjoy the fact I'm brilliant." Even though Shepard couldn't see Feral he could just picture the smile on the man's face right now, especially considering the scowl on Miranda's. "Oh and by the way, stop talking unnecessarily because the Collector's will figure this out." The radio static then cut out, Feral's omni-tool detecting everyone was synced up to the system.

"You seriously enjoy sticking it to her don't you?" Kasumi managed to smile through her breathing as the group ran through the fields, the edges of the colony getting bigger in the distance.

Hitting a few more buttons on his omni-tool before letting it dissipate letting him move in a more natural running position. "Yeah it is pretty good fun but seriously that woman really should know better than to speak over the line as it's syncing."

The team was running in a straight line, spread out with a few metres between them as they ran side by side. "By the way that's another thing I've been meaning to ask, for a pretty free living guy you get pretty serious when we go on missions…between all the insane things you do and say, why is that?"

Feral laughed slightly between breaths, "Ah, ah, ah. That would be telling, besides don't you prefer finding things out yourself?" Grinning slightly as he looked over towards Kasumi, leaning forward slightly so the butt of his rifle didn't block his view as it sat on his shoulder.

"He used to be in Special Forces before Cerberus got a hold of him." Garrus shouted out from the middle of the group, the turian had his sniper rifle swinging in his arms as he ran, mainly so if he had to stop the group he could peak through his scope as quickly as possible.

Feral just glared into the distance as they carried on running, ignoring Kasumi's laugh as the group kept on moving. "Garrus…you're the reason why she knows so much about me aren't you?"

"Not important right now, keep it down guys we're getting close. No noise from this point on." Garrus quickly called out, his mandibles flaring as Kasumi smiled towards him, winking quickly before turning back. Garrus rolled his eyes, letting Feral growl out a long string of curses in Khellish before laughing to himself when the man finally finished his rant.

Before too long the group had hit the edge, reaching a wall that ran around the colony. Stopping to take a breath and hunker down until Shepard radioed in that they had landed. "God they really didn't expect any trouble did they? I could throw you guys over it…." Feral stated before looking at everyone else, who were far more out of breath than he was. "What? I could….unless you guys have a better idea" Shrugging before grinning happily at the wall.

"Not a bad idea, no entrance, no reason to guard. No Collectors watching." Mordin chimed, taking one deep breath and suddenly started began to breathe like he hadn't just been running. "Actually, very good idea." The salarian grinning back at the super solider.

Garrus stood up and took a few steps back to look up, "Alright then, so we send someone over to make sure it's clear." Looking towards Kasumi before tilting his head towards the wall. "Feral you better not be wrong about this."

"Please, when have I ever led you wrong?" Feral said as he pushed his back up to the wall and slid down slightly, placing his hands on his knee. "Kasumi just needs to make the landing." Bracing himself up as he waited for the light woman to take the run up towards him. "Good luck Kas, don't let the bugs bite."

"Hah, cute." Kasumi smiled before she started the run towards Feral, timing it perfectly so her foot landed square in Feral's palm. The super soldier using the thief's momentum combined with his strength to throw her up and over the wall. Kasumi activated her cloak mid-flight, disappearing from view as she sailed over the colony wall.

Feral began laughing to himself "Damn she's light, makes it feel like you weigh a ton Garrus." Pushing himself up and off the wall and walking back slightly. "Relatively speaking….anyway now we wait for her to call all clear…..if that's ok with you, boss." Grinning playfully towards Garrus who seemingly ignored the comment.

"Well we haven't heard gun fire yet so that's good." Garrus shrugged, looking up at the top of the wall as if he was expecting to see Kasumi appear over the edge at any moment. "Besides can't you hear anything over there?"

Shaking his head as he started to tap at his omni-tool "I can't hear anything over the sound of the swarm…." Looking up and blinking before turning to Mordin "Your….your counter measure system works right?...because otherwise I just threw Kasumi into the hornet's nest…" looking slightly worried before finally Mordin smiled at him.

"Of course, signal jammer is fully operational. Swarms shouldn't be able to detect Kasumi." The Salarian speaking as confidently as he always did. "In theory." Breathing out before looking away from the dubious looking Feral and Garrus. The sight of a line dropping down from the wall made the three men look down and then up in almost perfect synchrony. "See, theory sound." Mordin said proudly before tugging on the synthetic material a few times, gripping onto the ratchets attached to it tightly before starting his ascent up the wall.

Garrus snorted as he watched Mordin climb up the wall "Scientists…." turning to Feral with a grin on his face only to swallow when he saw Feral staring at him, waving his omni-tool back and forth. "…sorry I keep forgetting that you…sorry." Coughing and looking away just as the ratchet slid back down the line. Breathing a sigh of relief when Feral just gripped onto it and started to climb up the wall as well, eventually disappearing out of sight. "…..scientists…" the turian shook his head as his omni-tool kicked into life, Shepard's voice coming across loud and clear. The other team had landed and now the mission had officially begun.

By the time Garrus had made it over the wall and re-joined everyone else, the gun fire erupting across the colony was thundering over the previous eerie silence. As he re-joined the team huddled up near some crates leading into the back of a large building. The Collector ship was more than obvious as it loomed in the distance, hanging over the colony as if it was being suspended from the clouds. "So are we just ignoring the ship then?" Garrus whispered.

"Considering their kidnapping human beings and we still have no idea why?...yeah I'm trying not to think about it too much" Feral looked up briefly from his omni-tool as he whispered back. "Damn swarms are really causing havoc with the radio signal, this'll be hard to maintain." Swearing in Khellish quietly before shutting his omni-tool off, pulling his rifle off of his shoulder and checking there was a fresh clip in it.

Looking around his surroundings quickly before realising the building was their only way forward. "Alright then, through the building. Quickly and as quietly as possible. Feral you take the lead, then Mordin then me. Kasumi stay cloaked and stay close." Flicking his talons up the ramp and towards the door, watching Feral push himself up and quickly move up the ramp, following on after Mordin while Kasumi vanished from normal vision.

The back door to the building hissing open as soon as Feral hit the holographic panel, the lights flickering on in the hall way ahead of the man as he slowly started to move down the hallway. The thuds of the warzone, muffled by the metallic walls, still filling the air. As the hall stretched out around a corner Feral upped his speed to a slight jog, the group passing a large mess hall. "Exactly the same as Shepard's report from Freedom's Progress, everyone's just gone." Feral's voice came over the short range radio, but he didn't stop. Pointing his rifle as he checked his areas were clear before moving on, ignoring stairs and rooms in favour of moving towards the entrance of the building.

"Any idea how they do all this without leaving a trace Prof?" Kasumi's voice came from nowhere as she spoke whilst hidden in her veil. "I mean I can steal things without leaving evidence but a colony is a little out of my skill set."

Speaking as fast as always but in a quieter tone "Too many ideas, unfortunate. Can only speculate, bad practice. Need more data to confirm any hypothesis" the Salarian spoke as fast as he could think, the thief decided to leave it at that. The number of ideas the quick thinking scientist could possibly conceive in that time was unimaginable.

It took a few minutes but the group managed to navigate their way through the building, having encountered none of the colonists or any Collectors they were feeling content. However the knowledge that Shepard was currently fighting through swarms of the enemy pushed them on, wasting no time at all as Feral hit the door switch the moment he reached it.

Feral disappeared from Garrus' sight as he turned the corner around the door, Mordin quickly looking in the other direction before a hand came and dragged him down to the ground. The Turian stopped before slowly working his way forward, crouching down and peaking around the door to see Feral with a finger over his mouth. He then pointed up and over the metal partition and then opened his hand twice, spreading his fingers out.

Sure enough as Garrus slowly edged up, peaking over the railing he saw about ten Collectors although that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the crowds of people being placed into floating pods, every so often he'd catch sight of a pair of Collectors carrying a man or woman with a strange aura around them. First things first though, dealing with the Collectors.

Garrus whispered out towards Mordin and Feral, hoping Kasumi was close enough to hear him. "Mordin and Feral, stay put. Listen into the radio and wait for my go. I'm heading back upstairs to get in a good position, there's a balcony right above us I can use. Kasumi if you can hear me, get around on their left side." He waited a moment before he felt two fingers tap him on the shoulder before the faintest sound of movement at his side moved away from him.

Taking that opportunity Garrus quickly moved back into the building and let the doors closed, thank the spirits the Collectors were busy. Probably a combination of the amount of colonists left to move onto the ship and the imminent threat of a strike force attacking the colony. The sound of an incredibly large explosion made him smile, clearly Shepard was doing his job and it was time to do his.

As they waited Feral and Mordin slowly but surely made their way into better firing positions, heading down the ramp one by one and crouching behind some crates. Staying low but keeping an eye on the Collectors, opening up his radio as he noticed a couple of the bugs moving an occupied pod away from the yard. "Garrus hurry it up, they've started moving people" Feral whispered harshly.

"I'm in place, I see you two and I assume Kasumi is ready too. You two mark the Collectors moving the pod. Kasumi take your time and wait for your moment. I'll take the one in the middle directing them. Wait for my shot and then let them have it." Garrus' voice came over the radio; Feral briefly looking around for him but was unable to spot the sniper before raising his rifle.

The wait was intolerable, time almost slowing to a standstill as Feral lined up his shot before finally after what seemed like an age. The crack of a sniper rifle rang out across the yard and out of the corner of his eye he saw the Collector's head evaporate. Without a second's thought he pulled his own trigger, sending burst after burst towards one of the Collectors moving the pod. The sudden ferocity of their attack taking the Collectors completely off guard, and 3 of their kind lay dead in as many seconds.

Without giving the remaining Collectors any time to refocus, the ambushing party turned their attention immediately to the enemy who were darting for their weapons. The high rate of fire forcing most of them into cover and the ones who tried to attack back were picked off by Garrus' sniper rifle. Thanks to Kasumi, the Collectors who stayed in cover weren't any safer, as bullets ricocheted off the occupied pods. The cloaked woman running across the field in quick hit and run attacks, the brief glow of her omni-blade the only clue she'd ever been there.

Even to the technologically advanced race, the ambush had been perfectly executed and within minutes the Collectors lay dead. The gun fire stopping before each member of the team sat silently, watching the kill zone for any sign of movement before Kasumi's voice came over the radio, "You guys just going to sit there? They are very dead. Trust me." The thief materialising on top of a nearby roof.

"Yeah…sorry, old habits die hard." Feral replied as he stood up and slid over the crate he was behind, jogging forward and towards the first pod he could find. Turning around briefly to spot Garrus disappearing back into the building as Feral placed his rifle against the pod as he started to find the seam. "There we are" He smiled as he bit down on his tongue as he pushed the tip of his knife into the seam.

"What are you doing?" Mordin walked up behind Feral before looking over his shoulder "Ah, opening pod. No point, can't do anything for them now."

"True, but we have some time. Garrus need's to get down here and then he'll call it into Shepard and I'm not as light handed as Kasumi but I can still…" The pod hissing as Feral struck the hilt of his knife. "…open things." Sliding the knife from his boot back into its sheath, as he stood up; pulling the lid up and off the pod as he did. "You're area of expertise now Mordin, I can't help…..did…"

"Did his eyes just move?" Kasumi butted in, the woman had silently joined the pair while Feral had been opened the pod, the woman's head tilting as she looked down at him.

That caught Mordin's attention and instantly his scientific curiosity took over, pushing Feral politely aside as he stepped forward, his omni-tool firing up as he began to ran as many tests as he could imagine.

Kasumi and Feral looked at each other and shrugged as Garrus finally re-joined the group. "What's he doing?" The turian looked between them as he tried to figure it out.

"I opened a pod and one of the people inside looked unconscious but then his eyes moved….and…well I guess that was weird enough to get him curious." Feral spoke over the mumbling Salarian. "Figured we might as well see what we're dealing with before we move on."

"Alright then, call this in Feral." The three looked off in the direction of gun fire in the distance petered out. "Call him quickly, this is the first time the gun fire has stopped over there." Garrus' mandibles flared into a smile before Feral quickly stepped away and opened up his omni-tool.

The super soldier quickly worked to clean up the signal before connecting to Shepard's radio. "Shepard? It's Feral. We've just come across a group of Collectors rounding up colonists, Collectors are dead and we've got maybe 30 colonists here." He then listened to the static for a moment before the cracking reply came through.

"Good job….move deeper….colony….save….many…you can." Feral groaned before tapping at his omni-tool more, the line clearing up until finally he could hear Shepard perfectly. "Be careful Feral, the Collectors have husks on site but no dragon's teeth. We just got attacked by a group of them, guess that confirms Reaper involvement. Keep me posted and good luck."

"You too boss. Shout if you need us." And with that Feral closed the line, his old marine training still held in many places but talking over the radio was much simpler when the 'guidelines' were ignored. Feral moved back to where Garrus and Kasumi, the two of them looking over the colony map. "So we got good news and bad news."

"Miranda's been wounded and Shepard had to leave her behind?" Garrus quipped before snickering to himself. Shrugging when Kasumi glared at him slightly, the tall Turian being slightly unnerved by the tiny human made Feral smile.

"No such luck. Good news is we're wonderful and we saved these people and now we get to move on and try to save more. Bad news is, we've confirmed the Collectors are helping the Reapers. Collectors released husks on Shepard and his group." Feral and Garrus shared the same look, both remembering the husks they had encountered during their previous time with Shepard.

"Fun" Garrus sighed as he rubbed his forehead "Ok so we move on, according to the map there's one way in and out of this place and I doubt the Collectors will be back. As long as we can leave these people here without their condition getting worse they should be fine."

"We can move on" Mordin spoke loudly as he stood up "Occupant unharmed, stuck in a stasis field. Can't move but perfectly healthy. Assume same for entire colony, would make sense. Stasis field applied by the swarms. Allows for easy collection, analysing the field now. Will be able to reverse it soon." He smiled as he watched the others exchange glances before finally they all nodded.

"Ok then, like the doc said. Let's move" Garrus ordered as he jogged towards the exit, leading Kasumi and Mordin on as they headed deeper into the colony. Feral ran to the pod to grab his rifle, looking at the man inside he saw the fear in his eyes.

"It's ok, you heard the Salarian you'll be fine. We'll be back soon I promise" Grinning at the man as he grabbed the rifle and ran off after the rest of his team, flicking his empty thermal clip out as he caught up as quickly as he could. Looking into one of the buildings as he ran past, the people frozen into statuesque forms didn't escape his vision. Trapped in their own bodies, now that was one of the only things he couldn't say he had experienced in his life time and he really hoped he never would.

As the squad moved further into the colony, down the sides of buildings and through a couple of larger stores they noticed the number of colonists were starting to dwindle. The sounds of the Shepard's team fighting were still off in the distance as Garrus' team moved around the edge of the colony. The Collector's appeared to head for the more populated area's first, taking as many as they could in the first few hours of the attack.

"We're going to head deeper into the colony. The Collectors have already cleared these areas, head towards people locked in stasis." Garrus spoke quickly when the small group moved together for a brief moment, bunching up before Mordin took point. Eventually the change worked and they were coming across bodies in stasis again. Slowing their movement down and spreading out slightly more as the expected another run in with the Collectors, Kasumi once again returning to the 'shadows'.

As Kasumi ran across the rooftops, the rest moved between the buildings. Sticking to the side paths between the ready-made structures, Feral once again in the lead after he had started to smell husks nearby. "Kasumi can you see anything?" her radio buzzed as she looked down at the group. Jumping across to the roof ahead of her before using her holographic visor to look ahead.

"There's another courtyard ahead, the bugs have about 20 more pods and I'm watching them moving one right now." She radioed back before sprinting across the roof tops as fast as she could, making her way towards the yard as the three below her sprinted around the same buildings.

Feral's focus switched from scouting to concentrating on getting to the yard in time to save at least some colonists. That was until he turned a corner to find a group of husks shambling towards him, raising his rifle he stopped himself before pulled the trigger. If he fired he'd alert the Collectors, if he didn't it'd take more time to fight through them. 'Damn it', pushing his rifle onto his shoulder before grabbing the knife on his chest piece.

By the time Garrus and Mordin had turned the same corner, they found the bodies of the first few husks. Dents and slashes in their bodies where Feral had punched and stabbed his way through, Garrus instinctively raised his sniper rifle. He and Feral had done this before, the super soldier dealing with Vorcha up close as he picked them off around him and this was no different. Only Mordin grabbing the rifle and pushing it down knocked him out of his instinct to shoot, the two coming to the same conclusion Feral had moments before.

Out of the corner of his eye Feral saw the two behind him, their weapons half raised as they followed him while he cut the path through the husks. His hand covering one of the robotic zombie's mouths before it could scream, squeezing his fingers inwards before flicking his wrist and snapping its neck. Turning and throwing his knife straight into the forehead of the last husk as it ran towards him. Feral breathed a small sigh of relief after the husks had all gone down relatively quietly, turning just as another's foot appeared from around the corner.

Grinning as he gripped onto his knife tightly, lunging the moment it swung into view. He could only stare into the glowing, dead eyes of the creature when he realised his swing had done very little. 'Oh I really wish Shepard warned me about you…' turning around to see both Garrus and Mordin looking at the massive husk-like creature in front of them. Screaming back at them as he let go of his knife "Shoot it!" dropping to the floor and pulling his pistol off his thigh, instantly squeezing the trigger repeatedly; putting as many rounds into it as he could.

Watching the creature stumble as a high powered round sailed through the air above him and into the large husk, the barrage of gun fire didn't let up. Mordin and Feral having to change clips a few times until finally it went down, luckily for them it didn't use the weapon attached to its shoulder. Opting instead to try and grab Feral, who just kicked it away when it tried. Finally, Mordin hit the husk with an incinerate, the creature going down in the midst of roaring flames.

Breathing a small sigh of relief Feral laid back on the floor momentarily before rolling over and pushing himself back up onto his feet. "You think they heard all that?" pulling his rifle back off his shoulder as Garrus and Mordin jogged past him and around the burning reaper. Feral pulling his knife out of the husk as he walked past before jogging after the pair ahead of him.

The group could still feel the heat from the fire when Kasumi's voice came over their radios "Err guys? Whatever just happened over there caught their attention. They're speeding up and getting ready to be attacked." The radio cut out to the sound of collective groan, Garrus stopped and pulled up the map again quickly.

"The way we're going we'd be heading straight into the line of defence." His eyes darting over the map as Feral and Mordin gathered around. "The only alternative is this path but it'll take us a few minutes and by then we could have lost most of colonists." Moving the holographic image with his talons and highlighting the flanking route.

Reaching over and pushing the map back out again. "Unless, you and Mordin head down that flank and I keep going ahead. I draw their attention and stop them moving colonists without getting shot." The man shrugged "I can handle the fire and if you send Kasumi to help me from the roofs I shouldn't too badly beat up."

Looking into his red eyes Garrus just smiled, "Ok fine, we'll do it your way. I'll radio Kasumi as we head around and get her in place." The turian tapping Mordin on the shoulder before turning and running off down his new route, spinning on the spot when Feral called out for him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Give me your grenades Garrus" Feral shouted at his squad leader as he ran off, reaching his left hand out as Garrus threw the belt with the explosives on them. Catching it and throwing it around his shoulder before both men turned and ran in separate directions. Feral sprinted along the path, he attaching the grenades to the magnetic strips on his waist as he ran.

Lighting up his omni-tool so he could see the map on his palm easily, his locater beacon flashing on the highlighted path as he moved along it. Stopping briefly as he reached a fork in the path, taking his hand away from his rifle to look at the map before a whistle caught his attention. "Thanks Kasumi" he said to himself as he ran towards the noise, the thief herself still hidden from view. Eventually Feral was close enough that he could smell the Collectors ahead of him, slowing his sprint down to a jog as he drew closer to his destination.

Edging along the wall of a building he peaked around the corner to see the area teaming with Collectors, luckily one of the main groups was very bunched up. Pulling back behind the wall Feral grabbed one of the grenades off the belt and primed it, breathing in deeply. "Hope you're ready Kasumi, it's about to get loud." He said to no one in particular, making sure his grip on both the body of his rifle and the grenade was tight before he rocked back and forth, eyeing the nearest piece of cover as he got ready to run.

Kasumi sat on one of the roofs that had safety sheet around its perimeter, watching Feral's movements until finally she saw him sprint out from behind the building. Just as she was about to start shooting to draw their attention away from Feral, the Collectors instantly noticing him and starting to shoot in his direction as he sped towards a thick wall. Instead she just watched Feral lob something at the main group, covering her eyes as the following flash of light took her by surprise.

Feral however didn't let it stop him, the Collector's equally surprised by the size of the detonation, and immediately taking his opportunity to open fire on any Collector's moving pods. Putting down as much fire as he could whenever he had to try and regain firepower superiority over the larger force. Grinning when he noticed more controlled bursts coming from somewhere behind him, finishing off his clip by holding down the trigger as he tried to take a couple of the bugs out as well as keep them busy.

Dropping to his knees as he changed his clip quickly, peeking up over the wall to quickly scan the area before dropping back down. Gripping one of the grenades off his belt and throwing over the wall towards the most obvious group of Collectors. Counting quietly to himself over the sound of the Collector's weapons and Kasumi's occasionally bursts as he waited. Jumping back up to his feet the moment he heard the grenade explode, picking off the Collectors picking themselves back up before turning back to suppressive fire.

A bullet bouncing off his shield forced him to drop back down under the wall, pushing his shoulder into it and looking down into the ground as fire continued to pour into the concrete and over his head. Concentrating on the sounds of the rifles he could more or less figure out where they were, staying down behind the wall he reached his rifle over it and began blind firing in short, sharp bursts. He could hear the screeches of Collector's dying over the sound of the gunfire; Kasumi was still hitting her mark until a humming buzz blared over the field. A golden beam connecting with the cover Kasumi was ducked behind and before long a group of Collectors began firing at both of their positions.

Both Kasumi and Feral were unable to get more than a few blind bursts off, hunkering down behind their respective cover. Feral growled as he could hear a Collector sprinting towards the wall he was behind, sliding his knife out of the sheath on his chest as he waited for the chance to grab the unfortunate bug. Jumping up and reaching for the Collector as it got closer, his knife in the air when a crack tore over the sound of the fire fight.

The resulting blood spray coating Feral's face and chest, who just watched the Collector fall to the ground before ducking behind the wall. "You did that on purpose didn't you?" Feral spoke over his radio as he quickly wiped the blood from around his mouth, standing back up and firing at the Collectors who couldn't decide which target to shoot at. Taking a couple of them out before the reply came back over the radio, listening to Garrus while a group of Collector's caught fire.

"Maybe…besides you were doing fine beforehand" Garrus chuckled across the radio, before more sniper rifle rounds tore through Collectors. "I heard you using my grenades by the way, I hope they helped." He remarked from his rooftop, gazing down at the courtyard through his scope, the chest of another Collector exploding as the metal collided with it.

With the combined effort of the entire group, and with Garrus and Mordin joining the fight from the flanking position, the fire fight progressed quickly in scout team's favour. Within minutes only a few Collectors were left and with the last grenade on the belt, Feral made sure that even behind their cover the explosion removed the last of the enemy combatants. With that explosion Feral slumped down against the wall before pushing himself up so he could sit on the wall.

Looking over the courtyard at the pods as he waited for Garrus and Mordin to regroup, popping the spent thermal clip out of his rifle. Looking to his left as he slid a new one in, "Hey Kasumi, you ok?" grinning as he watched the thief reappear sitting next to him, her hand clutching her right arm.

"The blood?" guessing he'd smelt it, wincing slightly as she moved her hand to look at her arm. "Yeah I'm fine, that beam clipped me slightly. It's nothing just a cut…and a burn." Seething slightly as she pressed her hand back into it "I put medi-gel on it, I'll be fine. Besides with the stuff you've been hit with I don't think I have the right to complain." The pair laughing slightly as they finally spotted Garrus and Mordin clambering over a wall to get into the court.

"Still, get Mordin to have a look to have a look at it when he's finished with the pods. God knows what that beam was." Shaking his head slightly as he slipped off the wall and started heading towards Garrus and Mordin. Looking down at the people in the pods strewn across the yard as he walked until one of the pods made him look twice. Tilting his head as he peered through the tinted glass of the pod. "Holy shit, Garrus!" shouting as opened the pod as quickly as he could.

Garrus ran as soon as he'd heard the shout, hurdling over a wall and several other pods just to get to Feral as he finally pulled the lid up and off the container. "What? What's wrong?" He asked Feral before he looked to where the man was pointing. "Holy shit…Kaidan?" Both men sharing a similar look as the other two joined them.

"Who?" Kasumi asked, over hearing the last part of Garrus' sentence as she stepped towards the pod.

"Kaidan Alenko, he was part of Shepard's squad on the first Normandy." Feral said as he kept looking down at the man trapped in stasis. "Don't look at me like that; I'm just as surprised to see you." Grimacing as he had the imaginary conversation with Kaidan.

"What is an Alliance officer doing on a colony in the terminus systems?" Mordin asked, opening his omni-tool as he started to scan Kaidan's life signs. Tapping at his omni-tool as he waited for the reply.

"Not a clue" Feral shrugged "I may work with Anderson but he doesn't tell me everything, especially due to recent developments in my career choices." Reaching into the pod and gripping onto his armour plating, pulling Kaidan up and out of the pod. Snickering when his body stayed perfectly straight because of the stasis. "Oh shut up, it's funny Alenko" carefully putting him down onto the grass in front of Mordin. "If you can figure out how to reverse this stasis we can ask him." Mordin just nodded as he set to work, crouching over Kaidan's body as he scanned him with his omni-tool.

Turning to Feral slightly as they both looked down at Kaidan, "Reckon it's worth letting Shepard know about this?" Garrus asked, not really sure of how he was supposed to handle this.

Shrugging as he squeezed his palm, his omni-tool wrapping around his forearm, "Can't hurt, back in a minute." Grinning as he patted Garrus' shoulder before his face dropped and he swore to himself as he established the connection.

Garrus could only listen to Feral's part of the conversation with Shepard's team to far away to maintain a short wave connection. "Hey Shepard, you'll never guess what we've found." Feral rolled his eyes to Garrus as he spoke on the radio. "Wait….a what emplacement?" That caught Garrus' attention turning away from Kaidan as he watched Feral's face contort in confusion. "Yeah I got the co-ordinates, be there soon." Feral cut the connection and turned to Garrus. "They're trying to get a GARDIAN laser turrets back online, and they are getting some serious heat. We need to head there now." Relaying Shepard's message to Garrus, who just blinked.

"What is a colony in the terminus system doing with an Alliance officer and that kind of fire power?" Garrus asked out loud before groaning and holding the torn up half of his face. "Mordin, stay here and work on getting him out of stasis. Kasumi stay with him, you two shouldn't get any trouble. Once you're done head to our position." Garrus gave the order, knowing Mordin would happily keep working on his science project and Kasumi would want to stay put and tend to her wound; both he and Feral immediately headed towards Shepard's position.

The sounds of the fight ahead of them got louder and louder as they ran around buildings and down side passages through the colony. The Collector ship getting larger as they seemingly ran straight towards it, the emplacement was obviously somewhere near the centre of the colony. It didn't take too long but soon enough they started to get static riddled pieces of the other squad's radio communications, including EDI's voice giving them an update on the laser's status. "What was that she said? 50%?" Feral asked as the pair ran on.

"About that" Garrus replied, breathing heavily as they pushed on as fast as they could. "Good thing as well, I was afraid we'd miss the whole thing." Laughing slightly as he concentrated on running again. They were now close enough to feel the vibrations of the explosions up ahead of them. Storming up a ramp that led to the wall directly in front of the courtyard ahead of them, Feral pushed Garrus up and over before Garrus returned the favour and pulled him over as well.

The pair dropping down behind some crates around the edge of the courtyard, Feral immediately started firing his rifle at the most immediate Collectors while Garrus set up his rifle and steadied himself. The pair tearing into the flank of the main Collector forces, giving Shepard's team the opportunity to push ahead again, moving out of the corner the Collectors had forced them into and moving into the middle of the field.

Leaving Garrus in the position behind the crates, Feral headed out further into the yard to help booster the main group. With Collector troops almost constantly flying into the field around the main tower there was no time for catching up with Shepard, every member of the combined teams got on with the job at hand. They were keeping the Collectors at bay with the high rate of fire and the biotic abilities being thrown at them by Jack and Miranda.

Feral was one side of the yard while Grunt was literally tearing apart whatever made the mistake of getting close to him. The super soldier had managed to get close to a small group of Collectors and was finishing them off with his assault rifle before the thermal clip overloaded. Running towards the last one and throwing a punch straight at it, only for his fist to be caught as the bug was enveloped by a gold aura; its eyes glowing brightly as it spoke. "Assuming direct control."

"Jack cover Grunt, don't let him get swarmed again!" Shepard shouted from the middle of the field, turning as Feral flew into the crates to his left, the soldier groaning as he picked himself up off the floor slowly. Following the path Feral had flown he saw the Collector in question. "Belay that, everyone hit Harbinger with everything you've got!" Immediately firing a concussive round towards the slowly approaching figure before everyone else changed targets and engaged it as well.

The biotics in the squad concentrated on taking out its powerful shielding as it strode across the battlefield, "We are the beginning, you are the end." It spoke as it unleashed a missile like ball of flame that Shepard only just managed to dodge as he dove behind the crates Feral had crashed into.

"You ok Feral?" Shepard asked as the man held his head before nodding, pulling his pistol off his thigh and shooting as much as he could towards Harbinger. "Good, now keep shooting. He goes down eventually but he's a tough bastard!" Ducking as rifle fire from other Collector's on the field connecting with the crates, before a trail burned through the air above him and killed the bug in question.

Thanks to Jack and Miranda, Harbinger's shields were quickly torn to shreds and finally the bullets started to make an impact. Even with the overwhelming power of Harbinger, the Collector's body couldn't handle the amount of bullets impacting with it and eventually it fell to its knees and the voice rang out over the field once more, "This changes nothing Shepard". The body evaporating as the glow disappeared.

Panting slightly and rubbing the back of his head Feral sighed, "Harbinger? That's the name of a Reaper isn't it?" popping the clip out of his pistol before pushing a new one in.

Shepard just nodded "Sounds like it, plus he talked exactly like Sovereign." The commander replaced the clip in his rifle as EDI's voice came over the radio again.

"The turrets are almost operational, just a few more minutes." EDI reported in from the Normandy, "Alert, enemy reinforcements en route."

As soon as Shepard heard the last sentence he started moving people back into position, getting the front line set up consisting of Grunt, Feral and himself. Garrus could stay put and the rest would hang back as a supporting line. "Hey Shepard I uh….I dropped my rifle when Harbinger threw me. So can you cover me while I go and get it back?" Shepard looked back at Feral who was twirling his pistol around his finger.

"Don't bother" Shepard said, gripping onto his rifle with his left hand, reaching onto his back to grab the grenade launcher he was carrying. "Use this and go crazy." Throwing the heavy weapon to Feral who caught it and just grinned happily back.

"Oh Shepard" placing his pistol on his thigh before readying the launcher "You do know how to make a guy feel special" laughing to himself as he fiddled with the settings on the weapon. Shepard just watched him and shook his head before smiling as well. The smile from his face dropping when he saw the single reinforcement flying over in the distance.

"Boss….what the hell is that?" Feral had obviously spotted it as well, his eyes fixated on the object as he gripped the grenade launcher tightly.

Shepard gripped onto his rifle tightly as he quickly thought of a plan "Something big….which means shields and lots of firepower. Ok everybody listen up, we have incoming. Jack and Miranda, take that thing's shields offline. Grunt and I will keep it busy; hit it with everything we've got. Jacob and Garrus, keep any husks or Collectors off of us and Feral?" cocking his rifle as it drew closer and closer "Don't use that thing until it's vulnerable, then hit it as hard as you can." Watching as Feral nodded before running back behind him.

Gritting his teeth as he raised his rifle and waited for the creature to land until he opened fire, both he and Grunt were firing burst after burst. Ducking when the machine fired a beam at one of them, the other carrying on putting rounds into it. The rest of his squad immediately joined the fight, warps and other small arms fire coming from behind him until the small arms were drawn away by husks. From his position Shepard got a better view of the machine, within its 'mouth' were what looked like dozens of husks smashed together.

As the creature floated above the battlefield, Shepard had to take one of the moment's Grunt was being attacked to move back towards Jack. The biotic firing warps relentlessly at the construct, each and every one taking its toll on the shielding until finally Shepard noticed the bullets being fired at it, were bouncing off the metal plating; not a shield.

Before Shepard could shout the order at Feral, the man popped up from a group of crates right in front of the machine. The pounding of the grenade launcher pushing grenade after grenade out of the barrel was drowned out by resulting explosions as the rounds connected with the construct. Feral firing the high recoil weapon as fast as he could, each explosion pushing it around until one clipped the edge of the 'mouth'. The machine screeching and collapsing to the ground before a shimmering blue aura surrounded it and exploded outwards, forcing every member of Shepard's team in range to duck behind cover; the construct taking this opportunity to recharge its shields and push itself back into the air.

Feral scrambled to his feet and retreated back into the group as the machine floated above him, silently thanking god that Shepard and Grunt were so quick to start firing again as it drew the thing's attention away from him. Eventually making his way back to Shepard and sliding into the cover the commander was behind. "You see that? Grenades hit it all over but one clipped it on the inside and it went crazy." Feral half-shouted over the continuing fire fight, the sound of rifles and small arms rattling and cracking constantly.

Shepard looked over his shoulder at Feral briefly before aiming again and squeezing a couple of bursts at it again. "Yeah I saw it; we can get its shields down again. You concentrate on getting a grenade straight inside it this time." Turning to see Feral playing around with the settings on the grenade launcher, "You got that?"

"Uh-huh, just giving the next few grenades a timer. Let it roll inside before they detonate. Don't worry I won't miss because I'll be aiming properly this time." Grinning as he waited for the beam to stop hitting their position and head back towards Grunt's before running off again, clutching the grenade launcher to his chest as he stayed as low as possible.

Waving slightly as he ran past Jack who was panting, the woman glared at Feral before collected her biotic energy and firing it at the shielded machine as fast as she could. He carried on moving around and over the different areas of cover so the machine couldn't prepare for the assault. Turning a corner and ducking down when a Collector appeared in front of him, grinning when the Collector took a round to the chest. Putting a thumb's up through the trail left in the air as he moved off.

Watching the hull of the machine as closely as he could as he finally picked a spot where he could see the front of it, and would be able to move easily if it turned away. Breathing steadily and waiting for his opportunity, he could still hear the heavy breathing of his teammates around him; the noises hidden beneath the pounding gunfire. This fight had been harder than anything the scouting side had faced; hopefully this'd be over soon.

Within moments of that thought, he saw the first signs of the shield collapsing. A bullet had passed through it slightly and ricocheted off the hull, just a few more seconds and one more warp would do it. He wasn't sure which biotic had thrown it but as soon as it connected the bullets started striking it again. Jumping to his feet and bringing the grenade launcher up in his shoulder, aiming carefully until finally he squeezed the trigger as many times as he could. Hoping quietly as he watched the first few sail through the air and straight through the opening in the front of the machine.

Dropping back down to his knees as he watched and counted silently to himself, smiling as he mouthed 'one'. Grinning as the first explosion erupted out of its mouth, the husks within screeching before the others detonated and engulfed the entire horrific being in flames; punching a hole in its hull before the machine just dropped out of the air and crashed into the ground.

As it landed the entire courtyard began to hum as the towers churned into life, the GARDIAN lasers spinning towards the Collector ship. Firing a continuous stream of heavy weapons fire straight at the ship. Shepard's squad just watched as any remaining Collectors tried to retreat, getting cut down by the few members of the squad still up for a fight. It didn't take long before the Collector ship roared into life, the huge engines pushing against the planet until it started flying up into the atmosphere. The group could only watch it leave as a voice cried out from behind them.

"No!" the man ran into the middle of the courtyard "Don't let them get away!" he turned towards the commander, looking between him and the ship that was slowly vanishing in the sky.

Feral could hear the conversation from where he was, but he let it play out and sat down on a crate. Placing the grenade launcher back down on the floor and sitting back as Jack and Garrus came and joined him. "So who's the colonist?"

Jack shrugged "Some asshole we ran into on our way here, he's the one who told us about the towers." Sitting down on the floor and leaning back into one of the raised platforms. "So where's Kasumi and the doc?"

"Kasumi took one of the beams to the arm so we told her to stay back with Mordin who was…." Garrus said, stopping mid-sentence as both he and Feral looked at each other with the same expression of realisation. "Oh shit we forgot to tell him….." Gulping quickly "Never mind I think he knows."

Feral seethed slightly before turning away and looking at Jack and Garrus, smiling nervously, "Hey it's Kaidan, how badly can it possibly go?"


	9. A Blast in the Past

"That bad huh?" Feral sighed and rubbed his brow as he leant against the pillar in Shepard's room. Looking down at the commander who was sitting at his desk, staring at the models seated above his personal terminal. "Damn….I'm sorry Shepard, I really didn't think Kaidan would go off like that."

Shepard just breathed slowly before shrugging his shoulders "I don't know why I expected any differently, we are working for Cerberus…..and Kaidan has seen what they are capable of." Running his hands up his face and over to the back of his head. "It was still good to see him though…." A small smile appearing on the commander's face.

Feral just snorted "You're telling me, even I had no idea he was there and usually I'm good at keeping track of the old squad"

Shepard raised an eyebrow at him "So during the briefing that moment of hesitation you had…..that wasn't because of Kaidan?"

Shaking his head a little "I had heard rumours of a colony being given GARDIAN lasers but I honestly thought it'd be one closer to citadel space…..not as far into the terminus as Horizon. Guess I kind of dropped the ball on that one huh?..."

"No…don't worry Feral" Shepard pushed himself up from his chair "I still need to speak to the Illusive Man, I'm sure there's more to this than just GARDIAN turrets." The two began to walk out of Shepard's room, Feral following the commander's lead. "We'll be docking in the Citadel soon, take some time to relax. I'm sure we'll have some more recruits to track down"

Feral just grinned as he stepped into the elevator with the commander "Oh…oh I can't wait to see how many other insane people we can recruit" The pair sharing a laugh as the doors shut and they moved down to the main deck level. Stepping out of the elevator at the CIC, Feral was left standing in the elevator by himself as it moved down to the mess hall. Breathing out a small sigh of relief that Shepard had asked him about Liara, waiting for the elevator doors to open as he stood there in his casual wear. He was grateful to be out of his combat gear after so long, and the feeling of a t-shirt and jeans were a welcome relief.

He walked through the mess hall quickly, trying to avoid the massing groups of Cerberus operatives who were celebrating their 'victory' on Horizon. Admittedly, a third of a colony was better than the whole thing. But even so, it wasn't truly a victory in his mind. Not until they stopped the Collectors entirely. Rolling his eyes gently as he stepped up towards Garrus' weapons room, hitting the release panel and looking around the empty room before slowly reaching forward and picking up a data pad on his desk. A grin appearing on his face as he read the message the turian had left.

"_You're so predictable. Playing Skyllian Five with Jack and Kasumi under the engine room"_

He looked around the room quickly before gripping onto the data-pad by both ends and snapping it in two. Walking over to Garrus' small bunk as he began to snap the pad up more, crushing the metal in his hands and letting the pieces sprinkle down onto the turian's bed. Clapping his hands and letting the small cuts and abrasions heal up before he left the room. Metal wouldn't hurt the turian, but it'd make him itch.

Down in the depths of the ship the three were busy in their game. Gabby and Ken had joined them for a while but eventually Ken had lost the majority of his credits and Gabby had dragged him off. Garrus and Kasumi had been welcoming but Jack had been slightly hostile, luckily for the engineers she'd managed to keep it within the game rather than lashing out. Even now she sat there playing the game in a good mood, she still didn't smile but she wasn't as furious as she always was.

"So…" Kasumi spoke as she shuffled the cards in her hands, making sure to keep them as far forward from her as she could. Something Garrus and Jack had both asked her to do, no telling what her slippery fingers could do if given the chance "…when is Feral going to be joining us Garrus?" Hey eyes were a little more visible than normal; in the low light of the room she'd pushed her hood back a little so the other players could at least see her face.

The turian's mandibles flared slightly as he chuckled, flicking through the stash of items being used to bet with as he replied. "Should be pretty soon, he usually comes and visits me before anyone else so unless he knew I was down here he'd have found the data pad by now, so deal him out for now" Sitting forward and leaning over the small table they'd set up.

Kasumi's eyes flicked up before she smiled and started to deal the cards out onto the table, humming quietly to herself as she did. Garrus and Jack just looked at each other for a second before Jack finally broke the sound of her humming. "Err….didn't you hear Scarface? He said deal him out for a round."

"Yeah, come on Kas stop messing around and deal…" he then stopped speaking when he noticed her grin and the fact her eyes kept flicking up over his head. "…..he's right behind me isn't he?" The sound of a finger flicking the back of a turian's head and the turian exclaiming in pain rang out through the sub deck before Feral sat down at the table and picked up his cards. He glared at the turian before a smile broke out across his face, laughing at the look on Jack's face.

"How….how did you?" She looked behind Garrus, the path he'd taken wasn't the brightest but it was still illuminated. The fact he'd snuck up on her so easily in a place she felt comfortable was slightly unsettling. Especially for someone with the strength of a Krogan. "Never mind….I probably don't want to know"

Kasumi spoke as she flicked the cards around the table "It makes sense, he's almost impossible to sneak up on and his hearing is near perfect. He probably knows exactly how to make as little noise as possible. I am impressed" she smiled towards the grinning super human as he slowly picked up the cards one by one.

The grin never leaving his face as he clapped the cards back together on the table, laying them face down. "What can I say? After a few escape attempts Cerberus were ready for the brute force approach…..I had to change tact and well…how do you prepare for me sneaking up in the dark?" His grin widening a little as he leant forward over the little table.

Placing her own cards down onto the table Jack just shrugged "After seeing the way you fight I never imagined you to be capable of sneaking up on people that well."

With one talon still rubbing the back of his head and the other holding his cards, Garrus laughed a little "He doesn't have a reason to, not really. Shepard rarely has a need to be sneaky and when he does he'll send Kasumi or go himself. I only really found out about that side of him when we bumped into each other on Omega…" The turian was about to carry on before Feral shushed him.

"Not here Garrus," his eyes flicked up and looked around the dark room "We'll be docking at the Citadel soon; we can talk in one of the bars. Until then…we have no idea who's listening in" He nodded up into the corner of the room before looking back to the table. "So then….until then, let's play" He grinned and sat up straight, his fingers tapping on top of his cards.

- A few hours later in the Dark Star Lounge –

The group walked in through the doors, the muffled thumping of the lounge turning into full blown music. The Normandy had docked a little while ago and Shepard had given the crew the all clear to take the time to stretch their legs, much to the disdain of Miranda who elected to stay aboard. The four Skyllian players moved over to a booth and sat down, Feral throwing out a credit chit into the middle of the table. "Get yourselves a drink, my way of saying sorry for kicking your asses at cards"

Garrus and Jack groaned and rolled their eyes as Kasumi happily grabbed the chit and hopped off to the bar. She'd been present when both Jack and Garrus had used the bar in her room enough for her to know what they liked. Feral just laughed as she hopped off before sitting back into his seat. "So….now that our voices are being nicely drowned out, what were we saying?"

"Scarface mentioned you on Omega" Jack leant forward, grinning at Garrus who just glared at her. The nickname wouldn't stick; at least he hoped it wouldn't.

Feral just laughed and grinned even bigger, "Scarface….that's good I like that" shrugging as Garrus looked at him pleadingly "anyway….it was after I was….expelled from the migrant fleet and Garrus disappeared from all channels. I was working for Councillor Anderson, checking a couple of Eclipse warehouses on Omega"

- Omega, 2184. 1 year before Shepard's revival -

"Did you hear? Archangel took out another Blood pack platoon yesterday?" The Eclipse mercenary spoke to his partner, guarding the roof to one of the gang's warehouses. "I heard he managed to pull it off all by himself." The human grinned over at the young Salarian, trying to unnerve the new recruit.

"Shut up, there's no way a single combatant can take down Krogan and Vorcha." He shrugged off the human's words before gripping his shotgun a little tighter. "How do you know he even exists?...and what is an archangel anyway?" Both of the gang members spoke as they faced away from each other, scanning their own arcs.

"An archangel is a theological figure found in several human religions, usually depicted as warriors or messengers of God." The reply came after a few seconds, the Salarian grinned as he realised it must've taken the human a while to piece those words together let alone remember them.

"I didn't realise you were that smart" Looking over at this shoulder to his partner before his eyes widened at the figure holding his partner in a choke hold.

"He isn't that smart…but I am" The red eyed man grinned before throwing a punch straight into the side of the salarians head. Wrapping an arm around him as well to stop him from making a nose as he collapsed. Laying the pair down slowly before sighing. "Morons" Rolling his eyes and stifling a laugh as he opened the door and walked into the warehouse.

Feral slowly made his way along the rafters of the warehouse, he could see the groups of mercs below him. Luckily they obviously thought no one would be able to get in through the roof so he had a free run off the high ground. His black armour and the Quarian cloak over his head as he prowled around. Slipping down onto the giant, shelving units occasionally to peak into the boxes and crates stashed around the building.

He kept moving down through the warehouse, sitting tight whenever a patrol went past. The two on the balcony wouldn't be found for a while but he couldn't risk taking out a patrol inside just yet. Most of the crates were exactly what you'd expect, weapons, drugs and mechs. It was their destinations that were more interesting, some of which were getting dangerously close to the outer rim of Alliance territories.

"Well then….can't let these go unnoticed." He grinned and looked around as he placed tracking beacons on the crates before checking his omni-tool. He'd better head out, the next shift change was coming soon and he didn't want to be stuck inside when the alarm went off. Climbing back up into the rafters and quickly and quietly headed back towards the door. Before suddenly the warehouse shook, a large explosion ripping through the building.

The sudden explosion took Feral by surprise, knocking him over as he watched the fireball tear through the main entrance. The fire and smoke had barely dissipated before a hail of bullets came tearing from the new gap. Watching the carnage ensue underneath him as he stayed as low as he could. "Just my luck, I choose the one day that another gang attacks." Sighing and rolling his eyes as he began to crawl along the metal platform.

The only thing that stopped him from moving was the shout from the Asari commander "It's Archangel! Stop him!" she screamed out to the floundering Eclipse mercenaries as they tried to hide from the sudden attack. Sniper rounds and assault rifle fire ringing out through the warehouse as Feral pressed himself down more and looked over the edge. Scanning the fight from above, if it had been another gang. They would've just taken over the contracts, all the packages would go to the same place. A vigilante though? Anderson wouldn't want weapons to go into their hands.

Sighing as he realised he'd have to force the mysterious figure to give up the shipments. He laid in wait, watching carefully as the rag tag team worked their way through the warehouse. Trying to pick out the one giving out the orders, but with little success. There was the sniper though, any Eclipse that tried to make it through the front door where met with a rifle round to the chest. So he'd wait, as far as they were concerned no one else was here.

His red eyes pierced through the darkness until finally the fighting was over, Feral had to admit he was impressed. A group of relatively rough looking fighters had blitz attacked and wiped out a force of Eclipse mercenaries. Whoever this Archangel was, he definitely knew how to fight. Hopefully he'd see reason and back down when the time came. The super soldier was laying on his back, listening for any sign the mysterious leader was approaching before a resounding word rang out through the building, each member of the team spoke a single word into their radio's. Clear.

Rolling onto his side to peer down at the entrance, watching a Turian armed with a sniper rifle walk into the warehouse. "So….archangel is a turian. Now let's hope he's as reasonable as the rest of them." Grinning to himself as he began to stalk the sniper, following him from the rafters until he watched the turian walk up into the foreman's office alone. The rest of his team dispersed out into the warehouse, leaving Archangel to his own devices as he scoured the office.

Garrus was grinning behind his helmet as he looked through the computer of the eclipse warehouse. Plenty of data he could use for later operations. Names, addresses, clients and more importantly, information on the other gangs operations in the same areas. Knowing the attack had gone off without a hitch was already a success in his mind, the fact they'd found so much intel; was a plus.

His grin never left his face until he felt something press into the back of his helmet, closing his eyes and mouthing damn it from behind his visor. Keeping his talons on the keyboard in front of him as the voice quietly spoke. "Don't move a muscle Archangel. You're not the reason I came here, but I can't let you leave with any of these shipments. So…." The man stopped to breathe for a second "You're going to stand up….and walk out of this warehouse. Take all the intel you want, but leave all the shipments." Garrus just listened before slowly nodding his head, clenching his talons slowly into fists. "I'd calm down if I were you, if your heart rate gets any higher I'd say you were about to try and attack me"

The gun pressed into the back of his head a little firmer as Garrus' eyes widened from inside his helmet as the strange sentence gave him déjà vu from almost a year ago. The word almost struggling to form in his throat before he finally managed to speak out through his helmet. "….Feral?" he slowly began to turn his head as he felt the gun move away from him. His visor finally facing the man, and he grinned as he saw those same deep red eyes from under the hood. "By the spirits it is you"

Feral slowly lowered his gun as he looked back at the turian's helmet, finally piecing two and two together. A turian sniper. A turian sniper who knew who he was. "Garrus?" His jaw remained slightly ajar as he watched the turian slowly take off his helmet, the familiar face of Garrus grinning at him from the seat. He slowly put his pistol back into his holster and stepped back as the Turian stood up.

"What? Got nothing to say to an old friend?" Garrus snickered out before a fist connected with the side of his head, knocking him down onto the ground before and hand gripped at the edge of his armour and dragged him back to his feet.

"That!...is for vanishing on me" Feral growled through his teeth at the turian who was still reeling slightly from the sudden punch "You know when you asked me how to wipe someone from the system, I assumed you were working on a case not planning on running off and becoming a fucking vigilante!" He shouted down at him, forcing Garrus to look back up at him "I have lost too many friends this year. First Shepard dies, then I had to leave Tali behind, then Liara runs off to god knows where and then you trick me into helping you vanish!" He shouted again as he shook the turian, growling and breathing heavily down at him. His eyes burning down at him before he relaxed and picked the turian up off the ground, placing him back down onto his feet. Letting him nurse his bruised face. "…..it's good to see you again Garrus"

Garrus sat back against the desk, waving off the small group who came clambering up the stairs before looking back at Feral who was just staring at him. Rubbing his mandible and cheek before snorting slightly "I guess I deserved that huh?..." He laughed as Feral's lips curled up into a small smile, the pair slowly devolving into flat out laughing as they both sat on desks. Feral pushing back his hood as he laughed, folding his arms as he sat back on a table in the centre of the room. "It's good to see you too Feral, I promise I'll explain everything when my face stops hurting…..damn you still pack a punch"

Feral just grinned at him "I've kept myself busy just like you…..that being said I don't have a moniker like Archangel." Tilting his head slightly as he managed to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. "Where did you come up with that one?"

Garrus groaned, not from the pain this time, as he really had hoped Feral wouldn't ask that. "Saved a family or two from mercenaries…..they may have….spread the word a little either way." He waved his free talon in the air "It's Garrus to you. I try not to encourage it but it gets away from me….anyway what are you doing here?"

Feral sat up slightly and looked back into the warehouse "I work for Anderson at the moment, I was here scouting out some shipments. Been tracking Eclipse movement near the edge of Alliance space, he wanted to know what they were shipping" He then just shrugged "But this is atypical, usually I do some….consulting work for Alliance special forces."

Garrus laughed once "You? A consultant?...maybe that's what I should call you" he laughed and groaned as the pain in his face slowly started to fade.

"Oh please don't Garrus…..knowing you it'll find a way to stick." Feral stood up and looked down into the warehouse. "Either way, I hate to punch and run but I really can't stay long. What are you planning to do with this place?" His omni-tool lit up as he checked the local time quickly.

Garrus sighed slightly before pushing himself up "I get it, no time to mess around." Stepping next to Feral as he looked into the warehouse. "I was going to blow the place up after stealing some weaponry, but if you need it intact I'll leave it intact. Mind if I take a few crates though?" he looked down at Feral as he picked up his helmet off the desk.

Feral just snorted and looked up at him from the corner of his eye "Sure, just…don't make a mess and leave the ones marked for any planet near alliance space." Pulling his hood back over his head as he lit up his omni-tool. "Look, here's my secure line. You need anything give me a shout. If I'm not busy I'll get back to you. Don't be a stranger Garrus." Feral watched Garrus' omni-tool light up as well. "I will see you again buddy"

Garrus watched as the frequency tuned into his omni-tool before they both shut back down. "Wouldn't have it any other way Feral, if you're ever on Omega you know where to find me." He grinned back down as Feral slowly made his way back out of the office.

"Preying on some poor merc, don't worry I'll find you" He turned and tapped his nose before gripping onto the side of the small structure "Stay safe Archangel" He laughed as he leapt back up the side of the structure and up into the rafters again.

"You too Consultant!" Garrus shouted back into the darkness before laughing to himself as he sat down, picking up his sniper rifle and looking through the visor. Trying to spot Feral's point of entry, but only managing to catch a glimpse of a door shutting somewhere in the roof. Placing his rifle back down into his lap he just shook his head. "By the spirits he's still terrifying." Breathing a small sigh of relief as he stretched out his jaw and mandible, quietly thankful that it'd had been Feral's gun at the back of his head.

- Dark Star Lounge, 2185 –

"And that is how I met the famous Archangel….and then punched him in the face." Feral grinned as Jack just laughed, Garrus rubbing the spot on his cheek. The skin now replaced by biomedical netting.

"I think it's kind of cute, your emotions were so mixed up from seeing him again you just lashed out" Kasumi spoke out as she placed her empty glass down on the table. Her eyes looking up to see three pairs of eyes just staring back at her, their blank faces just looking at her questioningly "What?...a girl can fantasize" she shrugged and smiled to herself.

Feral and Garrus just looked at each other briefly before looking back at Kasumi, the look on the men's faces making Jack burst out laughing as all of their omni-tools lit up. Feral and Garrus quickly looking down at them before standing up. "Shepard need's us back on the Normandy…..thank god." Feral just shuddered as he walked ahead, leaving the lounge as quickly as he could.

Feral was still shuddering a little as he tried not to think about whatever Kasumi's mind had conjured up back in the lounge. Stepping into the Normandy to find Shepard sitting in front of the airlock waiting for him. "What's going on Shepard? You're message sounded pretty urgent" Feral stepped up to him, taking the data pad that the commander was holding out to him. "What's this?" holding the data pad in his hand before tapping the screen on.

"The next dossier, what do you think? Looks like a good addition to team to me." Shepard just smiled at Feral as he leant back again, his arms crossed as he watched the red eyes scan across the pad. His smile getting bigger and bigger until finally his eyes flicked back up to look into the commanders. A large grin on his face.

"I'd definitely recommend her" Feral let out a small chuckle as his thumb rubbed along the bottom of the name on the dossier. "This ship desperately needed a chief engineer anyway."

**Hello all! First and foremost let me apologise for the long gap in updates. As an avid reader of many fan fictions on this site I know first-hand that gaps are a reader's worst nightmare. I also know the sentence, life comes first, will be unpopular X'D but I am sorry. I am a university student in my final year and writing is not my first priority. I am still writing and I do still have plans and ideas for chapters formulating all the time. However the time to actually sit down and write is a little scarce. That being said, this story is still on-going :3 I do hope that you carry on enjoying the story and please know that I will keep writing unless I say otherwise. But as of now, the story is on-going. Life comes first but I am going to keep updating as often as I can. Please continue to read and enjoy the story and drop a review as well :3 I love hearing what you guys think and It really helps give me the motivation to write. Anyway, the story is on-going and will keep being written and yes, Tali is coming back next chapter. Hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next one!**


	10. Reunion

"Hey Feral" Tali shifted in her seat after she spoke, as if she had thought up an entire speech to say to him and then forgotten it the moment she opened her mouth.

Smiling as he replied "Hey Tali" Feral smiled down at the little screen on his omni-tool. After watching the video she had made him so many times since Shepard had given him back his dog tags, he had started to speak back at the start. He knew she couldn't hear him but it still made him smile, shifting back in his seat slightly. His room in the Normandy was slightly darker as he'd shut the blinds, this video was for him and he wanted total privacy. The ship was currently en-route to Haestrom and Feral was unsure how to feel about that, he hadn't seen her in 18 months. What would he say? What would she say?

He sighed before smiling again at the video. In the end it didn't really matter, what'd probably happen is exactly what had just happened in the video. Planning to say so much, then forgetting everything the moment you see the other and in truth. It didn't matter what they said, he'd just be glad to see her again. So he just sat back and watched, the orange light of the omni-tool lighting up his desk as he sat there, smiling as Tali stumbled through her words and her feelings, tilting his head slightly as he laid his head in his hand.

"So…I guess that's it." The image of Tali sat there, her hands gently shuffling together. Finishing off her video the way they usually did, the same lines. Miss you, hope you're ok etcetera, but this time Feral waited for her final words, leaning forward as he did to look straight into her eyes. "I hope we can see each other soon." The quarian sighed before leaning forward to turn off the feed; her figure paused on the screen.

"Sooner than you think" Feral's smile turned into a full blown grin as he traced a finger gently along the side of her helmet before releasing his palm. Letting his omni-tool shut down, pulling the little chip out of the port on his forearm. Picking up his dog tags and pushing it back into place, sitting it snuggly in the little space. Leaning forward he hit the switch on the wall, the blinds opening up and he once again let his room be flooded with artificial light from the cargo hold.

Sitting back in his chair and gently flicking the metal tags around in his fingers as a blue light appeared in the corner. Clenching his fist around the tags before placing them face down on the desk as he slowly turned to face the blue avatar of the ship's resident AI. "Were you watching the video again Feral?" Her synthetic voice filled the room.

"Yeah I was….trying to think of what I'm going to say to her when I see her." He smiled down at the dog tags before his eyes flicked up at the avatar "but….I think I'm just going to wing it." He breathed in through his nose, looking at the avatar which just blinked once. "I'm going to improvise EDI" He grinned slightly as he realised the phrase probably went over her head, so to speak.

"Thank you for the clarification Feral" The Avatar blinked again, which Feral took as her smiling back at him as he just looked at her "Are those your dog tags, from your time in the Alliance?"

The question took Feral aback a little, even for EDI it was slightly out of the blue. During his time on the ship they had worked together to keep the systems clean and she'd asked him about other members of Shepard's team, his technical skills and even a few questions about himself but this time instead of just filling in a silence. She had asked completely out of the blue.

"Why the sudden interest in my dog tags EDI? If Miranda is trying to get my identity from them tell her I'll shove them down her throat before she gets a look at them." He growled slightly at the avatar, though the glare was directed through the avatar as opposed to at it.

The avatar blinked again before EDI's voice came through the terminal "You misunderstand; I have no interest in ascertaining your real identity. I was just curious as to why you have kept them, and even as to why you would entrust them to someone." As always EDI's logic ran through, her tone completely devoid of emotion but brimming with common sense. "The reports Cerberus have on you detail that you are protective of your past identity, the word homicidal appeared several times."

Sitting up and shifting in his seat as if he was about to dispute that last sentence, before shrugging and quietly admitting to himself it was probably more accurate that he would have liked. "I guess I can't deny that really….." Sighing and slumping back in his seat, drumming his fingers along the back of the pieces of metal. "I kept them because…..they are the single remnant of my life before Cerberus…twisted me to what I am today. More than that though they are a reminder of what I lost but…..they remind me that Cerberus didn't completely destroy me. I may not go by that name anymore, but I'm still the same person…..more or less anyway"

He sat in silence as EDI processed what he said, the AI remaining silent. Presuming she was waiting for him to answer her second question. "As for the entrusting? I didn't entrust them to Tali, I gave them to her to keep. The moment she gets back I'll return them to her. As the file said I was….almost homicidally protective of my old identity…and it almost made me lose what little humanity I had left. So I told her…..Tali is the only person who knows my real name, and getting that off my chest helped." He shrugged and sat back, crossing his arms as he waited for EDI's response.

"Thank you for sharing Feral….it was very informative." Her voice was almost soft, quieter than it had been as she had taken in what he said. Every word had been carefully processed and the peaks and troughs in his voice had been studied.

Feral just laughed and sat forward, leaning onto his desk as he picked up a piece of his armour plating. "So why the big question all of a sudden?...have you been talking to Kelly? I swear she's desperate to psychoanalyse me…." His eyes stared into the cargo bay before flicking back over to the glowing avatar, a questioning look on his face as he raised a brow at her optics.

The avatar blinked a few times "Kelly has expressed her concern and desire to evaluate your mental wellbeing however my curiosity was not because of her. I was interested because from what I have ascertained from the rest of the crew, you should not be mentally stable. And yet, all indications show that you are. I just wanted to find out how you managed it."

The questioning look stayed on Feral's face; it was his turn to process her words. Sitting upright as he looked straight at EDI's avatar. "You worried about going rampant….aren't you? You're asking me how to stay sane because you are actually concerned about turning on this crew even with the shackles in place….." Sitting back into his chair again as he just gazed into the avatar, the orb just blinking occasionally, an indication that he was right. "That's…..that's incredibly human of you EDI….but even so you know that with your shackles in place you're incapable of breaking your programming, so why the concern?"

"I am sure the Geth didn't mean to become sentient either Feral, and yet it happened." EDI simply replied before quickly following "We are approaching Haestrom, Commander Shepard requests you get ready and head to the briefing room."

With that Feral pushed himself to his feet and started grabbing the individual pieces of his armour before placing them over his clothing. "Thank you EDI, tell Shepard I'll be there soon…." He stopped what he was doing and looked back at the avatar still in the corner of his room. "Oh and EDI?...the fact that you are concerned even with your shackles?...I don't think you'll ever be capable of some of the things I've done." He didn't smile or make any expression other than seriousness, his eyes locked on the avatar until it just faded away.

Feral stared at the corner for a few moments before breathing out, shaking his head and muttering to himself as he slid on the parts of his armour. "She had to go and drop a big question didn't she?" Laughing to himself as he carried on fitting the pieces of his armour, grabbing his rifle, pistol and knives the moment he was down. Hurrying out of his room and up to the CIC, EDI could wait. A certain quarian was waiting for him.

- Haestrom –

Feral slid behind the nearest stone block, not from enemy fire but from the sunlight. His shields trying to hold off the huge solar radiation from microwaving him, something he wasn't particularly interested in discovering if he could survive. The Geth however were proving just as big a threat as the unstable sun, bullets bouncing off the stone as he began to return fire. He wasn't sure how long the synthetics had been there but they were proving an issue for Shepard's team. He could only hope the Quarians had brought a few marine teams; hopefully they could hold them back long enough for them to punch a hole from behind.

The Geth ahead of him were suddenly wrapped in pulsing blue energy before being thrown together, lifting his rifle and putting a burst of rounds into the two floating machines before they were flung away into a wall. He looked back at Jack before giving her a two fingered salute, turning and jumping over his cover. Moving along the wall with his rifle raised constantly, he could see Shepard moving along the right flank, Garrus following close behind him. Feral had insisted on Jack and Garrus coming along, Geth generally struggled against a biotic and the turian had racked up more than enough experience dealing with them two years ago.

Admittedly Feral was feeling tense; they had already come across a couple of dead Quarians. An active distress beacon was calling for any listener to find Tali. Hearing her name being said in that way reassured him that she was still ok, but it also meant the situation could still be bad. As he moved along the cover, his quick pace turning into a sprint as he reached a patch of sunlight. Sliding on his knees as he re-entered the shadow, squeezing the trigger and filling a Geth processing unit with a couple of rounds before pushing his shoulder up against the corner. Waiting for the rest of the squad to catch up, listening ahead for anything useful as Shepard finally hit his shoulder into the opposing wall.

Changing his thermal clip quickly as he watched Garrus step forward and tap Shepard's shoulder, nodding when he felt a similar tap at his own shoulder. He slowly started to head down the passage that moved to the right. He stopped, ducking for cover when he heard gun shots but quickly moving forward as Shepard joined him. The pair rushing forward and without any hesitation, they immediately opened fire on the pair of platforms. The bullets ripping through their rear shielding and tearing them open. The roar of gunfire subsided, muffled sounds of battle still in the distance, as the lone whining of a radio filled the relative silence.

"Op one, this is squad leader Kal'Reeger over." The voice came over the radio and much to Shepard's surprise before he could even think to pick it up Feral had darted forward and picked up the small device.

Clicking the button the whining stopped and Feral spoke into the device "Kal it's Feral, what frequency are you on?" Turning back to face Shepard with a grin on his face as he awaited a reply, nodding when Shepard mouthed 'you know this guy?' with an even bigger grin on his face.

"Patch your radio into channel 6-1-7-Theta" the voice replied quickly.

Feral simply dropped the smaller radio and opened up his omni-tool syncing the entire squad onto the channel as fast as he could before pressing his fingers to his ear. "God Kal it's good to hear your voice again, though I must admit I'd have preferred more peaceful circumstances." Feral turned to face the direction they would be heading. Garrus crouched down and looked over the small valley ahead of them while Jack salvaged a rather pretty looking SMG for herself.

The radio spewed out some static before the voice crackled through again. "Good to hear yours but right now we have a situation. We found what we needed and then the Geth found us; we can't transmit data because of the solar radiation. We're pinned down and we can't get back to our ship." The information came through quickly and simply, Shepard just listened in on the conversation. Taking in the situation and planning out the next step.

The fact that Feral's face was contorting slightly as he heard the news didn't go amiss, biting his lip before he replied back into the radio. "Alright Kal, we're heading to your position. We should be there in a few minutes."

"Take it slow and careful" the response came immediately this time "I'm sure you've already figured out direct sunlight will shred your shields. I'm hunkered down in a basecamp across the valley I left Tali in a secure shelter and then doubled back to a chokepoint….I know I don't have to tell you but getting Tali out safely is our top priority and yes, before you ask she's fine." Shepard was watching the small fire fight up ahead before turning around at Kal'Reeger's last statement. The look of worry on Feral's face had dissipated for now.

He was about to speak when the marine's voice came over the radio again "Wait! Watch your ass there's a drop ship coming in!"

Feral and Shepard looked at each other before ducking down at the exit of the passage way, looking up as a Geth ship flew overhead. Two cannon blasts lashing out at the Quarians ahead, Feral just looked to the ground as he watched the pair disappear in a cloud of smoke before a pillar collapses in front of the doorway. "Damn it…..Kal? The doorway's been blocked. Any idea how we can solve that problem?"

The squad of four looked amongst themselves, each one of them checking their thermal clips. Looking down into the base below as a reply finally came though "Yeah, there should be demolition charges in the buildings nearby. Use those and get a move on, you and I both know that the Geth are relentless. Reeger out."

Feral sighed as the line went dead, his fingers rubbing his brow before moving back to his rifle. He was about to move out before a hand came over across his chest. Looking up at Shepard and speaking before he even had the chance. "I know, don't lose my head. As far as I know she's fine. I'm not going to charge ahead, I'm not going to lose my cool. Still your squad Shepard…..just give me the word…it's her best chance." He looked back down at the buildings below, gazing firmly into the distance as his hands squeezed around his rifle.

Shepard just watched him; he could tell Feral was battling his own instinct to run off ahead. If anyone could do it, it'd be Feral but it'd be counterproductive. If anything happened the squad would be split in the middle and it'd leave his rear open to attack. Feral had a tactical mind and he knew that but even so, it was Tali. "Ok good, take point Feral. If need be shout out orders. Just don't get too far ahead." Shepard patted his shoulder, the signal to move on "and remember, we want her out safely as well."

Feral looked over his shoulder as he started to move off, nodding before pushing himself off and jumping down the small ledge. He could hear the rest of the team leap down one by one behind him as he moved towards the position that had just been over run. The bullets started flying towards them all of a sudden, the Geth that had been occupying the Quarians now turned towards them. The squad quickly moving up, pushing the Geth back as the first building came into view. Garrus calling out that he could see the second building in the distance.

Backed up by Jack a few paces behind him, Garrus in the rear and Shepard off to his right. The team moved up towards the first building, the two riflemen taking out anything they could. There shields being boosted by Jack's barriers as the woman stayed in support. Only occasionally unleashing her full biotic potential when a Geth tried to attack from a distance. Dragging the unwilling synthetic out of its cover and into the gunfire of the two rifles.

As Feral turned the corner into the entrance of the building, he felt the force of a juggernaut slam into him. The sudden hit knocking him down onto his back as the platform consolidated towards him. Kicking out his foot quickly into the knee of the synthetic, before sweeping his other leg quickly around. Knocking the platform down, scrambling up onto his knees and then feet as he moved over to the juggernauts eye stalk. Slamming his foot straight down onto its neck and severing the wires that connected the processing unit to the rest of its body. Growling as he lifted up his rifle, his foot still embedded in the Geth's neck. "I am so not in the mood today". Ripping his foot away from the platform as Shepard and Jack moved up behind him. Slowly walking into the building before signalling all clear, the juggernaut had been the last line of defence and while he had been busy Jack and Shepard had cleaned up what other resistance there had been.

Feral stepped into the building, checking every corner of the room before slowly lowering his rifle. He heard Shepard order Jack and Garrus to cover the entrance, the commander stepping up to the super soldier who was eyeing up the explosives. "Think that'll be enough to clear the path?" Shepard inquired as he stepped up to the console, looking through the files. At this point any information into what was going on could be helpful.

Picking up the explosives and weighing it in his hand, "No….not even slightly. We'll need the second batch….but if you want we can blow it up and I can try and destroy the rest by using Garrus as a battering ram." Grinning playfully at Shepard, who just shook his head as he looked down at the console. Pushing his finger down on the most recent audio file recorded.

As Feral packed the explosives into a small pouch on his thigh Tali's voice began to play out of the computer. Stopping briefly before carrying on, zipping up the small pouch as he just listened to her voice. Turning around and sitting down on the desk the explosives had been on, pressing his knuckles into his mouth as he just stared out of the small building. Shepard just listened to the recording and looked at Feral over his shoulder. "Are you ok Feral?"

Feral just grinned and laughed a little before pushing himself off the desk "Yeah I'm fine…just enjoying the sound of her voice." Picking his rifle back up as he headed back towards Jack and Garrus. "Come on John, you know what she's like with a shotgun. Don't make me tell her you kept her waiting." Jogging up towards the front line leaving Shepard to his thoughts, he had to think. The little Quarian had been good member of his squad, now she was leading squads. He actually dreaded to think how much better of a shot she was, puffing up his cheeks as he shook the thought from his mind.

Making his way back towards the rest of his team he could hear Garrus and Feral talking to each other quietly, more because they were trying not to alert any other Geth in the area rather than hiding anything from Jack. "Ok listen up everyone, the Geth are still out there so we want to move on as fast as we can." The eyes of his squad snapping towards him as he spoke, their weapons still pointed up out of the entrance. "So Feral, head to the door and get the explosives set up on that giant rock. The rest of us will head off and get the second set of explosives. Like you said Feral…" Shepard began to head out of the door, Jack and Garrus following him quickly "...don't want to keep her waiting."

Feral rolled his eyes, grinning at the back of the commander's head. Sitting back and waiting for them to move off, his grin turning into a laugh when Jack gave Garrus a questioning look and the Turian just shook his head. "Fucking elevators right Garrus?" Sighing gently before his grin dropped, checking the thermal clip in his rifle before sitting up slowly. "You better be keeping her safe Kal" The sound of gun fire off to the side signalling he could move, quickly heading towards the block across the door.

He'd have to be careful though, most of the block was being bathed in sunlight. Luckily if his shields went down the sunlight wouldn't do much damage to him, unluckily his shields would be down. So if he got shot at while setting up the explosives he'd have to rely on his ability to act as a walking meat shield. Nether the less, hopefully the Geth would be too interested in Shepard. They were machines after all; the biggest threat was the only threat. That's how they infiltrated Saren's base on Virmire, only this time there was no nuclear bomb and they wouldn't leave anyone behind.

Crouching down in front of the block and quickly pulling the explosives out of the pouch, the heat of the light on the back of his head being relieved by the shade created by his hood as he pulled it up over himself. Shutting off the warning sound of his shields being depleted, he knew they were being ripped to shreds and there was no sense in getting annoyed by the constant bleeping. Thankfully due to his time on the Migrant Fleet he was well accustomed to the explosive devices used by the Quarians, so setting up the bomb was a case of time rather than skill.

Thankfully the Geth were kept more than busy by the unrelenting force of Shepard, Garrus and Jack. As soon as he had set up the small explosives he moved back slightly behind a piece of machinery and aimed his rifle down towards the group. There was no sense rushing down there alone, he had no idea what was going on so he'd sit back and act as an over watch for when they came running back with the charges. He was almost surprised that it took them a grand total of 10 minutes, grinning and providing small bursts of covering fire as the group made their way back.

"What kept you Garrus?" Feral laughed as the three came running back towards him, catching the charges out of the air when Shepard lobbed them to him. "2 years without killing Geth must've made you a bit rusty." His grin being hidden behind his hood as he kneeled back down and added the extra charges to the already placed on the stone blocking their path, Garrus shrugging off his comment, mainly because Feral was half right; the mercs on Omega weren't fearless, emotionless robots by any stretch of the imagination.

Standing up and walking back as he primed the detonator. Turning around and waving the detonator in his hand. "You three might want to step back a little." His large, insane grin decorating his face as he shouted "Fire in the hole!" Counting to three in his head, letting everyone reach a safe distance before he pressed the button and watched the once large stone slab vaporise. Dropping the detonator as soon as the blast went off and shouldering his rifle, he waited for the spray of vaporised rubble to stop peppering what little shielding he had before quickly heading to the door. The rest of the squad following as he moved through the first and second door, into what looked like the quarian command centre.

Well, what was left of it anyway. Quarian and Geth bodies littered the room and most of the equipment was either destroyed or had been perforated by gunfire. "Shit…" Feral groaned as he walked in, pushing his boot down onto the head of the crawling platform until he felt it's armour give way and get crushed under his foot. The super soldiers eyes scanning the room for any sign of a Quarian he recognised, or at least their suit pattern. Breathing a small sigh of relief when he didn't recognise any of them, pushing back the small pang of guilt he felt. They could be mourned later; right now they had to find Tali.

"Fan out, see if there's anyone left alive or anything we can use. 5 minutes and then we head off." Shepard quickly called out to the group. Jack and Garrus immediately heading up the slight ramp to the higher area, Garrus making some comment about Quarian architecture before Jack quickly said something back along the lines of 'I don't give a shit'. "Anything hear we can use Feral?" Shepard asked the super human, snapping him out of his scanning like trance.

Turning to face Shepard "Well….from first glance most of it has holes in it, so I doubt it. Then again, this is Tali's base camp, so you never know." Giving the commander a weak smile before both men's attention was snapped by the crackling of a radio and the suddenly appearance of a holographic screen.

"Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in base camp." Shepard and Feral instantly speed walking up to the console. "Hello? Is anyone there?" The image of Tali kept pressing, her voice sounding more and more desperate before Shepard hit one of the keys.

"Tali, it's Shepard. I'm sorry but everyone here is dead." Shepard spoke up, he'd waited a split second before talking to let Feral speak but the man was too busy staring at the holographic picture of Tali with a grin on his face. "Any survivors must've fallen back."

Tali's face dropped down briefly before she shook her head. "Damn it, we knew this mission was high risk." She took another small moment as she clearly cursed ferociously at the captains who ordered this mission in her head. "Anyway, what are you doing here Shepard? We're in the middle of Geth space."

"I think the more pressing question is what the hell are you doing in Geth space? I thought we agreed over two years ago that Geth space is bad." The sound of Feral's voice had an immediate impact on the Quarian's stature, her shoulders and head rising slightly.

"Feral?...is that you?" Tali asked, just about every ounce of leadership in her voice disappeared as she concentrated on more important things for the briefest of moments.

Shepard took over again "Yeah it's him Tali. Don't worry I'm keeping him safe but we need to get you. Where are you?" The sudden interruption pushing both Feral and Tali back into stances more appropriate of a tactical situation as opposed to a romantic reunion. That could come later, when he wasn't there.

"R-right….Kal'Reeger and what was left of the marines managed to get me into the observatory." Tali shook her head slightly as her voice returned to sounding like someone at the head of an operation. "From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed and I'm safe for now but there are a lot of Geth outside."

Shepard turned his head from Tali at the sound of Feral, Garrus and Jack all popping in new thermal clips behind him. "No time to waste then. Tali sit tight, we're on our way." Garrus spoke up, his mandibles clicking. The sight making Shepard chuckle a little before looking over at the door.

"Tali it looks like the door is sealed shut and the console at this end is torn to shreds, can you do something about that?" Shepard quickly asked, standing up and checking his own weapon as he watched Tali work from her end, the red light in his periphery turning green. "Thanks Tali. Sit tight, we're moving now."

"Alright, be careful and please. Do what you can to keep the rest of the marines alive...and Feral….you get here in one piece too." Tali spoke out before the hologram cut out, the group immediately heading to the now open door. Shepard hitting the control and the group moving out immediately.

"So that's her?" Jack shouted as the group ran along, down the stairs and into the field Tali mentioned. Geth drones immediately spotting them and opening fire on the squad. The 4 strong squad firmly pushing through the group of Geth, as they shouted back and forth at each other.

"Yeah" Feral called back, his words leaving his mouth as a burst left his rifle and entered a Geth platform. "What do you care anyway Jack, jealous?" Feral laughed over the roaring gunfire from both sides, the occasional loud splatting noise as a Geth collided forcefully into a pillar from the power of Jack's biotics.

Jack scowled as she crushed another Geth before lobbing the crumbled metal into another platform. "Fuck you Feral, you're not that good looking" the woman unleashing a shockwave straight towards a group of platforms coming from around a corner. Still seething as she stormed off with Shepard following her closely behind. Feral just chuckled at the back of her head before he and Garrus followed suit.

At this point the group was moving like a well-oiled machine and having torn their way through plenty of platforms not even the appearance of a juggernaut or two hampered their movement for long. Sticking to the shade as best as they could and sprinting from shadow to shadow when they had to change clip. The squad eventually reaching the other side of the field and approaching the door in a standard breach formation. Shepard and Feral on one side. Jack in between them, and Garrus covering their asses.

Bursting into the room expecting to find a good unit of geth to destroy on entry, they scanned their weapons around in their respective corners before Jack groaned and kicked the ground. "Well that was anti-climactic." The rest of the squad moving into the room before the door shut behind them, Feral stepping up to the controls of the blast windows blocking their view of the area ahead of them.

"According to Tali she should be on the other side of this area, so let's see what we're dealing with." Turning his head briefly as he watched Jack attempt and fail to open a wall safe before proceeding to beat it open with her biotics. Shaking his head slightly as he tapped at the panel and grinning when the blast shields slide up quickly. The eyes of the entire squad snapping in their direction before each and every one of them stood there staring out into the field ahead of them. "You had to open you're big fucking mouth didn't you Jack?" Feral groaned as the Colossus stared back at the squad before firing its main cannon at them.

Diving for cover before she could even retort as the room filled with dust and smoke as the impact struck the wall behind them. Shepard screaming at them to move through the door and head into the courtyard below. Feral lead the way and practically punched a hole in the door as he struck the holographic panel, the group quickly running down the stairs and around the corner. Sliding into cover one by one next to the Quarian marine firing off pot shots with a missile launcher.

"Hello Kal" Feral grinned at the marine before popping over the cover and pumping a quick burst of fire into the closest geth platforms he could see. Dropping back down onto his knees as the entire collection of Geth fired back at their position. He ignored the rattling of bullets on the metal partition protecting Shepard's squad and Kal'Reeger from harm. "Shepard this is the marine we spoke to on the radio earlier. Kal'Reeger, Commander Shepard. Shepard Reeger you get the idea." Waving his hand between the two men before re-joining Jack and Garrus, helping them hold off the slowly advancing Geth.

"I still have no idea why you're here Feral but right now I don't have the luxury of being picky." Reeger's head bolting to one side as a round pinged off the rock before he carried on giving Shepard the situation report. "Tali's in the building over there and the Geth are trying to get to her. The best I've been able to do is draw their attention." An explosion ending his sentence prematurely, the high rate of fire and warping sound of Jack's biotics filling the air again in retaliation.

Shepard peeked up over the partition. "That's a lot of Geth, are you sure Tali's still alive?" It was a question he had to ask, he needed to know how urgently he had to handle the Geth but he couldn't help but feel the invisible daggers stabbing him in the back of the head from Feral's glare.

Kal'Reeger quickly put any worry to bed though, laughing once before nodding his head over. "That observatory is pretty impenetrable and it's hard to hack a door when you're being shot at….unless you're him of course." Pointing at Feral over Shepard's shoulder. "Thankfully Geth are much less resilient, the only real problem is that Colossus. Bastard has a repair protocol and huddles up whenever it takes any amount of damage. I tried to get closer but I took a round in the process."

As he knelt down to pop in a new thermal clip, Feral once again butted in on their tactical debrief. "You're hit? How bad is it Kal?"

"Don't worry I'm fine. I've not gone through everything on this damn rock just to get killed by a lousy infection." The look of concern on Feral's face quickly being replaced by a small upturned corner of his mouth. Shaking his head as he snorted to himself. Muttering something in Khellish as he opened fire on the Geth again. "I heard that Feral." Reeger quickly retorted.

Shepard ducked again as more rounds bounced over his helmet. "We need to get to Tali, now! Any ideas?" he shouted over the roaring fire fight occurring between the two forces.

Kal nodded, cocking his missile launcher quickly "Just one, I'm not moving so well but I still have a launcher that hasn't been fried. I'll keep the Colossus busy while you move in close; maybe get a few good shots on it in the process."

"Nuh-uh, not happening Kal. If you die Tali will kick my ass. Think of something else" Feral shouted over him, "don't make Shepard tell you that as well because then we will have a problem. Too many Quarians have died today already and I am not letting you sacrifice yourself pointlessly." His shout almost a growl, making the gunfire seem quiet in comparison for a brief moment.

Kal sat there in silence for a second before huffing through his teeth, "Fine, we'll do it your way. I'll stay here and make sure nothing comes creeping up behind you. Give them hell Shepard!" Sitting back into the stone wall, groaning slightly from his wound.

Shepard nodded his head at Reeger before turning to face his squad, peeking up and over the wall to see the terrain ahead of them. The best path was on the left hand side, it gave them plenty of cover but also exposed them to the light. They'd have to punch a hole in the Geth force and then sprint up the flank. Good thing he'd brought along two super soldiers. "Ok listen up you three. Garrus hang here; take out what you can but nothing stupid. Feral and Jack, we're heading up the left hand side. Now there's a lot of light so we need to move fast, punch a hole and then storm through it. Think you two can handle that?"

For an eerie second Feral and Jack both nodded with almost the exact same grin on their face, Cerberus had designed them both for this sort of scenario and he was only now starting to notice they shared some mannerisms. Feral had outgrown most of the ones Jack exhibited over his 2 year freedom, itching to get going was the main one. Jack was always raring for a fight and got bored during the lulls, and even though Feral had a reason why, Shepard was sure his previous disdain of elevators was a similar symptom. One the one hand it was slightly terrifying, he now had two members capable of tearing through platoons like they were nothing but on the other, maybe Jack would progress as well as he had. "Ok then, let's move!"

As soon as Shepard shouted the order, Feral and Jack leapt over the metal partition and started storming towards the ramp on the left hand side. They had moved so quickly that it took Shepard a split second to catch up. The two riflemen moving on either side of Jack, using her biotics to attack the Geth but provide degrees of shielding at the first sign of a counter attack, before hurling the huge bubble of energy at the Geth shooting at the group. Within moments they had reached the bridge, Garrus picking off any Geth foolish enough to come into his sights on the other end of the small bridge. "Go! Go! Go!" Shepard screamed the moment it looked even remotely clear, the three sprinting as fast as they could through the sunlight and over the bridge. Feral using his strength to accurately fire in full sprint at a platform bouncing around the corner ahead of them before the three moved up the ramp. They were now in a perfect position to flank the colossus.

Shepard panted a little as he peeked up over his cover, there were small amounts of Geth platforms ahead of them as well as the Colossus but sniper fire from Garrus was keeping their attention divided. "Feral, remember how you took down those Armatures on Ilos?" He spoke over his radio, the racket of the fire fight drowning out his voice. He was sure Feral had heard him though because when he looked over he saw Feral waving a grenade back at him.

"Jack, hypothetically speaking how powerful a barrier could you put around me?" Feral turned to Jack who was crouched down behind him, one red eye staring back at her and when he noticed the quizzical look on her face he clarified "Because let's say I'm about to do something rather stupid but really cool and I'd rather not get shot." He sighed when she still obviously didn't quite get his meaning. "Just cover me ok?" he smiled briefly before popping around the corner and putting down 2 Geth platforms, watching his hands until he saw a tell-tale shimmer of blue surround him.

Jack had heard Shepard over the radio, but she had no idea where Ilos was or why she should even care. The look Feral had given her before he had leapt out of cover had seriously pissed her off. First of all, he doubted how good she was. Secondly, he looked at her funny and thirdly the idiot had just leapt out in front of a colossus. Now she had to keep him alive to she could kick his ass later, grunting as she threw a barrier around him, her hands contorting into vice grips as she maintained it. She had to try twice as hard to control it when suddenly Feral started sprinting straight towards the giant platform, so that's why he needed the barrier. Gritting her teeth as she held it, Shepard keeping the Geth from shooting her as she did.

"Jack I hope you can do better than that, he's going to need it" Shepard shouted out over his rifle thumping. Again someone doubted her and she still had no idea why they were so adamant he needed a barrier. The man could take a bullet to the head and come back laughing like a moron in 5 minutes or less. She got her answer when she watched him, slam his foot into the back of one of the platforms 4 knees. The super human punched up into the softer armour underneath the platform, before tearing his hand out and diving onto the ground.

"Son of a bitch" Jack muttered before the HE grenade exploding inside the colossus. Even she had to admit, albeit quietly and to herself, watching the platform get torn apart from the inside was pretty awesome. So much so that she dropped her barrier the second after the explosion tore it open. The liquefied contents of the platform spraying out and covering Feral as he lay on the ground. As the colossus fell over onto its side Jack saw Feral turn his head and glare at her. "Oh so that's why he wanted the barrier" she rolled her eyes before Shepard told her to move up and clean up the rest of the Geth.

Watching Jack eagerly run off to finish off the Geth, Shepard stepped up to Feral as he slowly got up. The super human retching slightly from the smell of the fluids covering him, he offered his hand to help Feral up only to be waved away. "Shepard I'll be fine, go get Tali. Jack and I will finish up out here." Shepard couldn't help but laugh a little, shaking his head as he moved off to the observatory where Tali was waiting. He couldn't blame Feral really; he wouldn't want to see Liara after 2 years covered in Geth guts either.

Walking into the observatory Shepard was greeted by a few Geth platforms lying on the floor, so they had breached the door at some point. How many marines died pushing them back? It didn't matter now, not really. He couldn't have done anything even if he had wanted too but more importantly Tali and the marine leader, Kal'Reeger, were alive. The sounds of small arms fire being drowned out by the door shutting behind him he slowly stepped up the ramp leading towards Tali.

"Just let me finish this download" Her voice came from up ahead, she'd opened the doors as he had stepped up to them so she obviously knew what was going on or at least had some idea from their radio chatter. Pulling off his helmet and letting it hang loosely at his side, placing his rifle back onto the magnetic strips on his back. "Thank you Shepard, if not for you I would never have made it out of this room." Smiling as she finally turned around only to look behind him as she looked around the room. "Where's Fe…..everyone else?"

Turning back to look at the door over his shoulder. "Well, Garrus is probably helping Kal'Reeger make his way over here. Jack, you'll meet her in a bit and just to be warned. She's a little volatile." Emphasising the word volatile for Tali so she was at least prepared to meet her. "As for Feral he's….cleaning up outside."

"Ah, ok then." She sighed "I wish I had joined you back on Freedom's progress, this whole mission has been a complete disaster but I couldn't let anyone else take my place on something this dangerous." Tali sounded like she was more trying to find any justification for coming, even if she was slightly clutching at straws.

Shepard sighed and shrugged his shoulders "You get crap missions Tali, but whatever the reasons for you coming here? I'm glad I could help. Now that you're done though, the offer to join still stands." He was sure she wanted off this rock as fast as possible, may as well give her the out she desired.

"I promised to see this mission through Shepard and I did" She lit up her omni-tool and started compiling the data that had been collected quickly into a neat file "I can send the mission data to the fleet and then join you immediately, and if the admirals don't like it they can go to hell" Waving her fist angrily through the air before shutting off her omni-tool. "I just watched my entire team die…"

The door slid open behind Shepard and through it came the rest of Shepard's squad plus one. "Not all of your squad Tali, though it is fun to hear you curse again" Feral grinned as he helped Garrus support Kal. Lifting the Quarian up and off his shoulder and letting him take his own weight again. "Told you Shepard was good Kal and I also told you I could do that to a col-"his sentence cut off as he stumbled back slightly. Despite having a light frame the half- running, half-jumping hug from Tali had taken him slightly off guard before he regained his composure. "-ssus…hey Tali" he slowly returned the embrace "Long time no see" blinking when she suddenly pushed him away.

"Ok I'm sorry Feral as much as I missed you….you stink of oil and hydraulic fluid." Tali had to stifle a laugh as she held the super soldier at arm's length, her palms pressed against his armour plating. Although when she saw the blank look on his face she couldn't help it, no matter how badly this mission had gone and despite all the friends she lost. Seeing him again for the first time in over 18 months was enough to make her put that behind her.

-The Normandy, 2 hours later-

Feral was sitting in his quarters, while Tali had gone off on her induction onto the Normandy with Shepard he had run off to grab a shower before anyone else accused him of stinking up the place. Making a mental note to slap Joker just hard enough to make him feel pain, but not break him later on, as he sat as his desk. His armour had been sterilised and scrubbed in the showers as well, so at least he didn't have to worry about that. Now it was just the long, arduous wait for Tali to finish her tour. Though he wasn't too sure how that would go. Tali hated Cerberus almost as much as he did, if not exactly as much as he did. She knew what they had done to him and they had attacked the Idenna. He hoped she could see past the worries that Shepard, Garrus and he had had the moment they set aboard the new Normandy. He was sure she would, the one thing Feral thought would cause the biggest issue was EDI. The presence of the AI would go down as well as a Krogan reciting romantic poems.

Finally however his door swung open with a loud hissing followed by a loud exacerbated "Ugh!" Tali throwing her arms into the air as the door shut behind her before she slammed her fist into the holographic lock, her omni-tool glowing and Feral's encryption locking the door instantly.

"So….how'd you like the tour?" Feral blinked and raised an eyebrow at the furiously pacing Quarian in his, correction, their quarters. "Beautiful ship no?" Smiling awkwardly up at her, in the hope his smile would settle her down a little.

"The Normandy is fantastic as usual" Tali proclaimed before muttering "Even better than she was before, but! I hate this! I hate it Feral" She half screamed, throwing her arms out. "Cerberus is everywhere, there are bugs all over the ship and half of the crew look at me like I'm scum again. I'd gotten so used to being treated normally on the SR-1 and Cerberus had to go and ruin it for me" She rubbed her hand up against her helmet, sighing loudly "and don't even get me started on the damn AI this ship has installed."

Feral slowly stood up and walked over to her, looking her dead in the eyes as he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her to him "Ok then, just listen because no matter how much you struggle you're not getting out of this." He breathed slowly "You know me Tali, and it's not just me it's Garrus and Shepard too. If we had any other choice we wouldn't be here, if I had any other choice I would've blown this ship up by now. As for EDI, give her a chance Tali" raising a finger to instantly stop her from arguing back "Please, give her a chance. I'm not asking you to like it, Cerberus or anything else I'm just asking you to trust me."

Tali sighed and relaxed a little in his arms "It's just a lot to take in, just about everything Quarians hate in one pretty package….but….ok, I trust you Feral." Her eyes staring back into his through her helmet's visor, unable to stop herself from smiling a little at his goofy grin.

"Besides!" Feral moved out of the hug and over to his desk quickly, pushing a button which caused the blinds to shut and a loud whirring noise to hiss through the room. "You should really thank EDI for helping me install that" He pointed over to the corner of the room at a sterilisation unit. "I didn't have you around so EDI was the next best thing" grinning playfully as he walked back over to her.

Tali pushed her hands out again and held him at arm's length "Oh so while I'm gone you replace me with an AI?" She was half teasing but the anger from her rant earlier was still present slightly in her voice. Ignoring the raised eyebrow stare on Feral's face as she suddenly felt the seal's on her visor release. "Bosh'tet! I'm mad at you and you think it's ok to.." finding it slowly harder to talk as he pulled her forcibly back into his arms and chest. "..take off my visor like that?" The soft clang of Tali's visor hitting the floor ending any attempts of speech she was making.

Feral pressed his forehead into hers, looking into her eyes properly again since the Idenna incident. The corners of his lips curling up slightly when Tali finally wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you so much" and before she'd even had a chance to respond he cut her off, his lips pressed firmly into hers.

**WOO! An update and there we go, Tali and Feral are finally reunited. Sorry for the lack of an update but I hate this big chapter satisfies you're needs again. I am still writing it's just essays and presentations and more essays and lectures are…well hampering my time and then there was a small game that came out recently called Halo 4 and….yeah….it's slightly very awesome so that's been draining my free time as well just a little bit BUT! Here you go and I hope you still enjoy reading the story. Please write a review, even if it's just to say "I loved it!" or "I hated it!" I'd prefer the former but beggers can't be choosers. Honestly guys reviews give me such a boost to keep writing and sometimes all I need to get me to sit back down and get going is too see how each chapter is being received :3 because if you're enjoying it, I will write more. I'll still keep writing even if you don't but it's nice to hear what you think. **

**Also! Just on the rampancy and EDI note please don't come shouting "That's just in Halo" because in the Halo universe, AI rampancy is almost like an inevitable disease but rampancy just means exponential increase without resistance. So EDI is capable of going rampant as well it's just not like in Halo where after 7 years they definitely become rampant. Mass Effect AIs go rampant as a result of concluding organic life Is pointless XD**


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